


All The Things You Said

by Junia



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: ... or grumpy acquintances to friends to lovers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Mild Angst, Slow Build, Slow Burn, everyone ships it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-06-08 21:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15251958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junia/pseuds/Junia
Summary: “Can you be my girlfriend?”Fuck. He did not mean to blurt it out like that, especially without any context. Scratching the back of his neck, he cleared his throat and tried to clarify, “I mean not girlfriend girlfriend. Just pretend girlfriend.”-Or, the one in which Bellamy needs a fake girlfriend because his sister is in the belief that he has one and Clarke agrees to help out a little. AKA another fake dating AU that no one asked for!





	1. Chapter 1

It was all Octavia‘s fault.

She just wouldn’t stop bugging him about getting a girlfriend, telling him he would die old alone and with five dogs, and actively going out of her way to organize him dates. (Bellamy was still recovering from the time a random brunette had sat down across from him at five guys, being under the impression he had arranged a date with her on tinder. He had not.)

So one day he thought screw it and told his annoying little sister that he had met someone and was now in a serious, loving relationship. Of course, he withheld all further information a) to drive her crazy with curiosity and b) because it was a big, fat lie.

Unfortunately Bellamy didn’t really think farther than that. His sister stopped bothering him with every remotely attractive girl, which had been his initial goal so everything seemed to worked out.

Until now.

Now Octavia was coming to visit with Lincoln in tow for a month and guess what Bellamy still didn’t have? A girlfriend.

So he found himself deep in thoughts on a friday evening, trying to find a way to get out of the grave he had digged for himself. He could of course simply admit his lie, but was Octavia’s relentless teasing and even more attempts at matchmaking really worth it? No. It didn’t help that he was currently out with his friends, having fun at a bar. Not so much fun when you were inches deep in shit. He let his gaze carefully wander around the bar, trying to determine which girl would most likely to agree to be his girlfriend for the next month.

“Blake!”

He blinked at Raven who was waving her hand in front of his face, grumbling out an exasperated, “What?”

“Are you even listening to this important conversation?” she asked.

Instead of answering her, Bellamy considered her as his potential girlfriend. Raven and Bellamy, Bellamy and Raven, both super hot and incredibly hot headed? But Octavia knew her, they had used to get their nails done every week when she had still lived here, so that fell flat. Also, he was pretty sure Raven was into one of her fellow nerd buddies at work who she might or might not talk about every two minutes. See, he did listen.

“Okay, clearly he‘s not with us anymore,” Raven muttered rolling her eyes as Bellamy ignored her and considered the different options at their table.

Harper was with Monty, Emori with Murphy, and Miller had a boyfriend, too. Jasper was a cute guy, but sadly, also in love with the cashier at the local paiting store. And from what he had heard he had managed to ask her for her number already.

His options were running out and Bellamy was ultimately forced to consider  _her._

“Because the conversation we had was so important,”  _she_  huffed and smirked at Raven.

The half doctor half artist who had recently crept into his social circle and now annoyed him with her dry jokes and soft laughter — or as he liked to call her princess. Clarke Griffin, new in town for half a year, constant pain his ass.

Although it made sense when he thought about it. Octavia didn’t know her, so she would probably believe it with her eccentric nosiness, and Clarke seemed to be the perfect girlfriend material. Or, scratch perfect, girlfriend material was enough. The problem was that their relationship had consisted of permanent bickering and the occasional screaming match in the last months. Bellamy wasn’t sure if they had that kind of friendship — if she even considered him a friend — where he could just say:  _hey Clarke so my sister is coming to visit and she thinks that I’ve had a girlfriend for the last three months. Could you maybe pretend to be said girlfriend?_

No way would princess ever say yes to that. He could already picture the offended gasp she would give him if he ever had the balls to actually ask.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Yet again, he jerked out of his thoughts and found Clarke frowning at him, which was the perfect reason why he couldn’t ask her. Who asked that? Why are you staring at me? So… sure of herself. “I’m not,” Bellamy grunted, trying to frown equally irritated.

Clarke’s frown turned into a scowl. “Uh-uh, you totally did.”

„You wish.“

His mobile buzzed in his pocket and he got it out to see that it was a text from his sister.

_Just bought a neck pillow for the flight so I won‘t be so cranky. I‘m pumped to meet ur gf btw hope you 2 are ready for double dates!!! See you next week big bro_

Okay. Bellamy had to get this girlfriend immediately even if meant swallowing his pride and asking the princess. First, he should find a quiet spot to talk to her so that the others would not hear anything he had to say. Bellamy did the only thing logical and got out his phone and typed out a text.

  
_Hey can we go outside for a bit_  
_I need to talk to you_

Clarke looked at her phone when it buzzed, her brows furrowing as she looked up and at him. Bellamy didn’t react, just trained his gaze on his phone.

  
_You are literally sitting across from me ??_  
_Okay and totally ignoring me_

  
_Can you go outside or not_

  
_Sure_  
_Meet you in 5_

  
He took the cue and stood up, muttering something about going for a piss when instead he went outside. The cool air felt freshening after the crowded inside of the Dropship and he leaned against a wall, sighing. He had no idea what he was going to say to her.

“Bellamy?” her voice came from behind and he turned around. Clarke’s face was a mix between mildly concerned and annoyed. “Are you finally going tell me what’s going in with you?”

“Can you be my girlfriend?”

Fuck. He did not mean to blurt it out like that, especially without any context. Scratching the back of his neck, he cleared his throat and tried to clarify, “I mean not girlfriend girlfriend. Just pretend girlfriend.”

The initial shock on her face wore off and shifted into amusement as she listened to the story why Bellamy was in this situation and in need of a fake girlfriend.

“Yeah, okay,” Clarke said afterwards and shrugged.

“What?”

Her brows furrowed again, she tilted her head. “I said sure, I can do it. What, were you expecting me to say no?”

“Kinda, yeah,” he replied lamely.

“Then why ask me in the first place?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m desperate?”

Clarke regarded him with a funny look before holding up her hands and smiling. “Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.” That was surprisingly easy.

“Huh, never thought you’d go this easy.”

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder, pointing a threatening finger at him. “Don’t blow it, Blake! Or I will fake break up with you.” He laughed, actually laughed, when he trailed inside after her.

The next day Bellamy and Clarke decided to meet at a coffee shop of her choice to discuss the details of their little arrangement. He wanted to laugh about the reality of it but figured it was better to go all in if he was already doing it. And Clarke seemed to be game as well.

The shop was small and cozy; a little too hip for his taste, though.

“So,” Clarke started and yanked his thoughts back to her as she took a careful sip of her unicorn vanilla strawberry latte with sprinkles and other caries inducing shit. “Tell me. What am I getting myself into?”  
  
He huffed out a laugh. “My sister‘s more concerned with my dating life than she should be, so you know, I lied so that she would stop trying to set me up with every girl she finds cute.”

“You’re not the relationship kind of guy, I assume. Right?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, raising a brow. “This isn’t real.”

“It does matter because I am your girlfriend.” She air quoted the word girlfriend and even winked at him. “And girlfriends are aware of your dating history in most cases.”

“Right. Um, no, not the relationship kind of guy.”

“So casual?”

Bellamy felt his cheeks flaming up because he was not used to discuss his dating habits so thoroughly, except with Octavia but she was always trying to be annoying, whereas Clarke looked rather interested. “Yeah,” he nodded, “There was someone two years ago — Gina — but it didn’t work.”

Clarke continued with her interrogation, “Anyone else I should know about?”

“Um, maybe Roma? But that was years ago and probably not important. Just forget it.”

“Great!” she chirped before nipping at her drink. “Now about how we met…”

They ‘had met’ at TonDC a couple of months ago, exchanged numbers and hit it off afterwards. Simple. Also, points for being realistic since that would be where Bellamy would find a real girlfriend if he ever wished to. Aside from the Arkadia College Campus, and the Dropship, the pub was his only other social place.

“Okay, what about our friends?” Clarke wanted to know, now having a piece of cheesecake. “Do we tell them that it’s all pretending or....?”

Bellam had already thought about it and didn‘t come up with any good solution. A part of him wanted to at least tell Miller so that it wouldn’t get too real in the next few weeks, but another part thought it would get too complicated with everyone involved.

„I don’t know about the others but the last time Jasper was drunk he told me he had a weed plantation somewhere in Brooklyn. So I wouldn’t trust booze and him with this.”

“I see your point. Then Jasper’s out.”

“Are you going to tell Miller?”

“Depends. You telling Raven?”

Clarke let out a sigh, pressing her lips together as she shook her head. “I’m not really sure either. I feel like she would be able to call me out on my bullshit, but then again it would be kind of stupid to have some people in the loop and others not.”

“Okay,” he said. “Then it’s all in. What do you say?”

For a moment she hesitated but then she smiled, her teeth white and shiny. “All in, Blake.”

But pretending to be in a relationship in front of all their friends was no that easy either. „Do well them we became a couple just like that?“

„Well yeah,“ she said before a frown appeared on her face. “Didn’t you say your sister thinks we’ve been together for months now?”

“Shit.” He scrubbed a hand across his face, thinking. “Yeah, she does. That could come up.”

“Then we are.“

He raised his brow.

„Together for months, I mean. We just —” she shrugged nonchalantly. “— tell them that we’ve been keeping it under wraps. New relationship and all.”

“You really think they’re gonna believe that?” Clarke seemed to be a lot more optimistic about the whole ordeal then he was.

“Maybe,” she said. “Miller believed me when I told him that I once accidentally cut my patient’s finger off.”

“Wait, you didn’t?” Bellamy remembered the night when she had proudly proclaimed to have cut off someone’s finger and despite his initial doubts he bought it and didn’t question it ever since. Wow.  
“See?” Clarke nearly yelped with a huge grin that lit up her whole face. “I’m a fucking good liar.”

It went on like that for a while and they discussed the most important topics when it came to a fake relationship: touching, things they regularly do, names they call each other, that kind of stuff.

When Bellamy left the coffee shop he felt like an organized criminal. All he had wanted was for his sister to stop playing matchmaker and now he was in fake relationship in front of all his friends with a girl he hadn’t even liked a day before.

What could go wrong?

-

Dropping the bomb about their supposed affair was supposed to happen on movie night at Monty and Jasper’s. But when he sat on the couch surrounded by his friends and shared a look with Clarke, he felt himself growing nervous. Like the day before your wedding nervous. Bellamy was convinced something would go wrong. He abruptly stood up and went to the kitchen to get himself a cold glass of water that would hopefully calm his nerves.

Seconds later he heard someone follow him.

“What are you doing?” It was Clarke and she sounded pissed.

He held up his glass and replied, “Drinking.”

“No, you dumbass,” she retorted, “I mean: what are you doing? We were supposed to tell them before the movie started.”

“I know, but —“ His hand ran through his hair and he let out a frustrated sigh. “— I don’t know, I’m nervous, okay? What if they don’t buy it?”

“Who cares? As long as we told them and are officially together!”

“It does matter!”

They were whisper-yelling at each other, but suddenly they heard someone going for the kitchen and Clarke looked like she had an idea. “We show them, Bellamy. Just kiss me and we don’t even have to tell them!”

“What?” he whispered, eyes wide and frantic.

“Do it!”

“Fuck,” he grunted before grabbing Clarke’s face and bringing his lips to hers. He spinned them around in the kiss to press her against the counter, feeling her squeak into his mouth.

“What. the. fuck?”

Bellamy let her go as if he was caught like a deer in the head light and looked behind him, trying to look embarrassed. It was Jasper who caught them. “Um,” he stammered, hand coming up to scratch his temple.

Clarke‘s hands were still around his neck when she actually, really said, „This is not what it looks like.“

What a stupid fucking line but he supposed that it seemed realistic.

Jasper was still frozen on the stop, empty bottle of beer in his hands as he narrowed his eyes. „Not what it looks like?“ he echoed, voice sounding incredibly malicious like he was coming straight out a superhero movie and he was the scary villain. (Bellamy needed to stop watching so much Marvel.) „Because it damn looks like  _I was totally right_!“ Bellamy blinked. „Monty get your ass over here! You owe me twenty bucks!“

Clearing her throat Clarke carefully dismantled herself from his grip but remained close, shooting him a  _what the fuck_  look. He returned it with a  _I have no freaking clue_  face.

Monty came in, clearly confused before his gaze settled on the the two of them. A beat, then. „Bellarke?“ He was exchanging some look with Jasper that Bellamy didn‘t understand.

„Bellarke.“ Jasper nodded.

„Damn,“ Monty sighed and fumbled in his pocket before getting out a crumpled twenty dollar bill and throwing it at Jasper. „Couldn‘t you keep it in your pants for another month or two? This was my  _food_  money.“ The accusation was directed at Bellamy and Clarke who couldn‘t do anything but stare blankly. Then Monty was already gone.

Bellamy was pretty sure he had never experienced something this surreal. All he wanted to know was, „Bellarke what now?“

„ _Bel_  for Bellamy and  _larke_  for Clarke, duh.“ The face Jasper made was like he had just heard the dumbest question on earth.

„Will you tell the others?“ Clarke asked the more useful question and he felt thankful that at least one them was using their head.

A grin spread on Jasper‘s bony face, making him look like an over excited preschooler. „Can I?“

They allowed him to have the honor, secretly grateful not to have to do it themselves. Of course Jasper announced it in his very special kind of way as he entered the living room with Bellamy and Clarke trailing behind. He supposed this was a how a walk of shame would feel like.

„Announcement time,“ Jasper exclaimed and waited until all their friends paid attention. „Bellamy and Clarke are fucking and of course I been knew so I get all of your money. Okay, now back to your movies. Nothing to goggle at here.“

Miller choked on his sprite.

He immediately regretted giving him this responsibility, feeling the strong blush creep up his spine as he pointedly avoided looking anyone in the face.

It was Clarke, awkwardly clearing her throat first, who finally pierced the silence. „Thank you, Jasper for, um, this. I would say we answer three questions before we go back to our movie.“ Bellamy gulped. „Right, babe?“ The elbow she hit him with forced out a smile out of him.

„Right.“

No shit, everyone‘s hands shot up in the room and he sighed, scratching his head. Clarke pointed at Raven. „You.“

„How long?“

„Four months,“ she answered easily.

„Damn it,“ Raven cursed and punched a fist into the air while Clarke was choosing the next person.

„Murphy.“

„Does he cry when you‘re in bed? Or like when you‘re making out?“

Bellamy narrowed his eyes at the bastard, biting back a response.

„No, but he almost did when I told him that I have the same feelings.“

Again, he had to try very hard not to say anything because that was the biggest lie in the entire history of bad lies and he was a freaking historian professor so he knew a shit ton about lies.

The last person who got the question was Harper because she was raising her hand and fidgeting excitedly. „Can I take a picture? I need to show it to Monroe for evidence.“

„No,“ they both said simultaneously. Harper pouted. As promised the others didn’t ask anymore questions, however that didn’t stop them from sending them glances every two seconds like they would miss something if they didn’t.

“This was a bad idea,” Clarke whispered to him at one point during the movie. She had been leaning on him the entire time to portray them like the happy couple they were, but when she talked her head was gone and he found himself missing the weight of it.

“I know,” he whispered back, shrugging. “But we’re already in too deep.”

“I guess we are.“

-

The next week went by fairly uneventful compared to the days before, but he knew it would become more chaotic once his sister came. On Saturday, a day before her arrival, Miller came over, unannounced like always to drink a few beers and watch football with him.

Bellamy let him in with a huff.

„I‘m not interrupting, am I?“ Miller asked, glancing around his apartment.

Puzzled, Bellamy frowned. „No?“

„Clarke. I don‘t know, maybe she’s here.“

Oh, that. Bellamy should definitely try to keep in that in mind the next time he said anything about anything. After all, he was in a happy relationship and you don’t forget about it just like that.

“No, she’s busy,” he managed to say with a straight face before turning to go to the fridge. Lying to Miller wasn’t easy, and since Bellamy wasn’t a good liar at all, it was even more difficult. “You want a beer?” he called from the kitchen and hoped this would change the topic.

“Sure.”

He grabbed two bottles and shuffled back to him. Miller took it with a nod, swinging his legs over the table. “So you and Griffin, huh?”

“Yeah, um.” Fuck. Bellamy’s hand came up to scratch his neck, a nervous tick that he had acquired over the years. “Yeah,” he repeated, forcing himself to be at least somewhat convincing. “It just happened.”

“I get it. She’s hot, even I can tell. And totally your thing.”

“My thing?” he echoed with a raised brow. For a relationship that was made up, his friends sure had a lot to say about it, which was actually a good thing because somehow they were all buying it, but. It made his stomach clench nervously.

“Yeah,” Miller said easily as he placed his damn feet on the coffee table like a barn animal. “You know, that bossy attitude. The whole fiery and explosive chemistry you two had going on at first. You’re into that.” He shrugged and frowned when their team lost the ball. “It makes sense.”

Apparently.

Bellamy accepted it without further investigation and tried to follow the game. There were far too many question marks and incoherent words dancing around in his brain though, and he couldn’t utter a single one of them without either sounding like a jerk who doubted his feelings for his own girlfriend, or like someone who was pretending to have one and confused because the lie was too easy to tell. Which he was.

Sure, Miller was right that his relationship with Clarke at first had been… explosive, to say the least. (And the thing about her being hot because she was. She so was, but… nevermind.) But to him it had never come off as a chemistry thing. They were two very different and yet simultaneously similar people and combined with Clarke’s prim princess attitude and admittedly, his own stubbornness, it resulted in a lot of heated fights and passive aggressive bickering. That was apparently chemistry to their friends.

In his defense though, the first thing Bellamy had heard out of her mouth was the unjustified bashing of one of his favorite books ever. Clarke’s step father had gifted it her and she didn’t like him so she didn’t like the book either, so sue him.

Anyway, whatever it was, they could use it to their advantage and fool Octavia. And afterwards they would just… break up and continue as usual. Easy peasy.

Thankfully Miller didn’t breach the subject again, only bitched and grumbled about their team that sucked ass and fed himself out of Bellamy’s fridge. Some days Bellamy wondered if the dude even had own food at home. Or if he even had home.

The next day was the day. The day of the days. The day that Octavia would come with Lincoln.

Bellamy woke up even earlier than usual and used his extra time wisely, going for a run around the block to lose some of the fulminating energy coursing through his veins. Then he made himself a nice, hearty omelette, catching up on Jessica Jones before calling Clarke.

It rang about ten times and he was about to give up when a groggy voice came out on the other side of the line. “What?”

“Hey, it’s me —“

“Why are you calling me at -“ There was a sound of shuffling, followed by a quiet curse. “- nine in the morning?” Out of her mouth it sounded like the greatest crime in history. “It’s like the middle of the night, Bellamy.”

“It’s almost noon,” he told her, frowning into the speaker.

“What the fuck. What kind of person are you - okay you know what, nevermind. Why are you calling?”

“My sister arrives today.”

“I know,” her voice huffed into the speaker. She sounded exasperated which he found unnecessary. “You already told me that twenty times in the last twenty four hours.”

Bellamy had to smile despite himself, and was glad that they were on the phone and she couldn’t see him. “Sorry, I’m just… Anyway, can you come over today? I would like to go over some things again.”

“You know that we’re only supposed to act like a couple and not rehearse the entire play of Hamlet, right?”

“Clarke,” he urged. It somehow sounded like a whiny babe he realized, blinking at himself.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll come over. Where do you live again? Oh, and am I already meeting your sis today?”

“I’ll decide spontaneously, see if they’re tired or jet lagged.” He proceeded to tell her his address, patiently waiting for her to write it down.

“Yeah, just text me that,” Clarke said, though, and he rolled his eyes. Why did she let him spell it for her?

“But hold your evening free,” Bellamy told her. “If you can, of course. Octavia will definitely be there at the Dropship tomorrow and I would.. I would like her to meet you before that.”

There was a suspicious silence for a moment and Bellamy wondered if she had just hung up on him for annoying her. Then Clarke snorted, though. “You know, you would make a pretty good boyfriend if this was, um, actually real.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. “Thanks,” he eventually pressed out lamely. _Good boyfriend?_ That was a compliment he hadn’t received before and he had no idea if she was right or didn’t know him good enough. Maybe both.

“Okay, see you today. And Bellamy? Stop worrying. Everything will be alright.”

That was however exactly what he did for the next few hours. Bellamy didn’t really know why he was so nervous in the first place. Octavia had met his girlfriends before and Clarke wasn’t even his real girlfriend, so this was supposed to be way easier than the real thing. As far as he was concerned everything could go wrong and Octavia could see through their charade and call them out. It wouldn’t be the end of the world aside from merciless teasing from his sister for the rest of his life. And yet here he was, biting his nails like some maniac. Maybe that was just a stupid character flaw of him, worrying about the wrong things too much and not worrying about the right things at all. Bellamy was a walking oxymoron.

He almost jumped from his couch when his doorbell rang. Clarke was standing on the other side of it, giving him an easy grin as he let her in before her expression turned into a frown. “Okay, you look horrible,” was the first thing he said.

Bellamy scowled. At least one thing he had were his good looks, or so he had thought. “Thanks?”

“I mean you’re reeking with anxiety, Bellamy. Seriously, have you been freaking out the entire morning?”

“No,” he said too pointedly, crossing his arms. It just took Clarke to raise her brow to give in. “Yeah, I’m nervous, okay? It’s my sister and if we screw this up -“

“We won’t,“ Clarke cut in before he could finish his ridiculous sentence, placing her palm on his arm. „Here, I got you a relaxation smoothie.“ She scrambled out a bottle with pink, thick liquid in it and handed it to him. „It will help.“

Bellamy took it with a frown, giving it an experimental sniff. „You know these things don‘t actually help, right? It‘s all just marketing bullshit.“

„There‘s this thing called Placebo,“ she shrugged and pushed the bottle to his mouth. „And it tastes a-fucking-mazing.“

It did taste good but Bellamy wasn‘t sure the Placebo effect worked on him. He sat down on the long chair at his bar as Clarke took a few curious glances around his apartment. It wasn‘t the nicest one in the city, but compared to the shithole he had lived in in the first semesters of college, it was very decent. He liked it. Miller loved it. Jasper and Monty loved his balcony and the view over the park that conveniently allowed them to smoke joints without being caught.

„Nice place,“ Clarke eventually remarked, giving him an impressed smirk when she sat down next to him. „I expected it to be more… dirty. You know, typical guy living alone thing.“

„Well, maybe I‘m not a typical guy,“ Bellamy retorted, a hint of… something in his voice. Honestly, he had no idea where that came from so he immediately frowned at himself and scratched the back of his neck. Clarke didn‘t seem to mind, though, returning the mischievous smirk.

„You definitely aren‘t, Bellamy Blake.“ Her eyelids fluttered playfully, and he had to swallow before she opted for her usual easy smile and propped her chin up on her hand. „So, you wanted to go over some things again?“

They went over their first meeting again and their history - for safety. It was better to be safe than sorry..

„So should we, um, kiss when she‘s around?“ Clarke asked eventually, the question of questions.

Bellamy pursed his lips, wondering. „I‘m usually not one for much PDA,“ Clarke nodded across from him, „But if the moment demands it, I guess we can?“ He stifled the urge to wince at his own friends. „For realistic reasons, of course.“

„Of course,“ she nodded. „Any other things I should know?“ Her eyes made a little squinting thing as she looked at her opened palm before starting to count down things. „I know that you‘ve had two serious relationships in your life. Gina, and um, Romi? Rome?“

„Roma,“ he corrected her with a grin.

„Roma. One ended in mutual agreement, the other… she was more the fuck buddy type of girl, right?“ He nodded. „Great. Then, you like to get up very early and exercise — which I find crazy by the way — you are a huge history nerd -“ Bellamy preferred the term History Buff but whatever. „- you are in grad school for being a history teacher. Your best friend is Miller. Your birthday‘s on the, mmm, on the first of July, right?“

„Yep.“

„Nice. What else? Oh, you can‘t drink beer without having a snack first!“ He truly didn‘t know why that would be relevant in any way and how she even knew about that, but he just chuckled and let her ramble on excitedly. „And last but not least, your sister is the most important thing in your life.“

Bellamy nodded, not embarrassed about this particular fact. Everyone who exchanged more than five words with him knew that Octavia was important to him — as they should. Unlike Clarke he didn‘t need to repeat the things he had learnt about her: wealthy family, smart, ambitious, bossy, still torn between med school and the academy of free arts.

„Am I Bellamy-Blake-fan enough or…?“

„Yeah, Clarke. You are,” he huffed and worried his lip. “Just keep in mind… Octavia can be intense. I’m pretty sure me and Lincoln are the only people who can truly handle her, and I don’t even manage to do that sometimes.” Clarke nodded slowly, listening. “She will probably decide to poke you out about everything, maybe ask you to paint your nails together so I hope you won’t mind spending some time… with her. Alone.”

Even though Clarke radiated coolness and strength, he could see the flicker of reluctance for a matter of seconds. But she still mustered up a grin, kicking his thigh lightly. “I had to handle my mother when I told her I’m not sure about my medical future. I’m pretty sure I can handle your sister.”

“Don’t be too sure about that.” He let out nervous puff of breath. “She is a force of nature… but I’ll force her to play nice,” he added quickly so that she wouldn't get too scared off. Octavia was an amazing person most of the time.

“‘Kay. So when do they arrive?”

He looked at his watch, brows furrowing. “In about four hours. She told me their flight was at 3 pm.” It was however strange that she hadn’t texted him anymore all day.

Bellamy didn’t like to brag but sometimes he felt like his life was a goddamn movie, because the second the thought occurred to him his doorbell rang.

Clarke was unsuspecting, huffing as she asked, “You expecting another fake girlfriend?” when he went to open. But Bellamy had a feeling.

He was right.

“Bellamy!” His damn sister flung herself at him the moment he opened the door. Despite his suspicion, Bellamy was still surprised to actually see her in front of him. It had been far too long since they last saw each other. He threw his arms around her and picked her up, spinning her around like when they were little.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when he set her down, brows furrowed. “You said you’d be here at four! I would have picked you guys up.”

“Yeah, well, our flight was scheduled earlier and we didn’t want to bother you. Cabs are a thing, Bell.” Finally, he also noticed Lincoln, her long time boyfriend, trailing after her with their luggage. Bellamy nodded at him and they bumped their fists. His relationship with Lincoln had certainly improved over the years but they weren’t the bestest of friends either.

Octavia cleared her throat and Bellamy jerked, suddenly aware of the awkward position Clarke was in. She probably hadn‘t expected to start their act so soon, but then again, neither did he.

“Hi, I’m Octavia. Bellamy’s sister,” Octavia said without waiting for an introduction and Bellamy watched her stride forward and reach Clarke her hand.

“I’m Clarke, Bellamy’s -“

“Girlfriend, I know,” his sister finished and shot him a pointed look over her shoulder. “I wish I could say I’ve heard a lot about you, but I didn’t.”

“O’,” Bellamy barked, joining Clarke at her side and placing a careful hand on her hip. “Be nice.”

“No, it’s okay,” Clarke said and he could hear amusement in her voice. “We’re still… at the early stages of our relationship. He’s just humble.”

Octavia’s unimpressed I-dare-you-to-lie-to-me look didn’t falter for a long, uncomfortable amount of time until Lincoln rubbed her shoulder, laying his arm around her, and she finally nodded, relaxing. Bellamy let out a breath, too.

They had survived the hardest part - well, almost.

Octavia and Lincoln declined the suggestion to go out to eat, instead settling for take out and getting comfy in his living room. Clarke didn’t make any attempts to escape the situation so he figured this was okay for her. Bellamy really hoped it was since he didn‘t want to make her uncomfortable in any way, but he decided to ask her later. Right now she was busy making polite small talk with his sister.

Octavia asked her about college, her side job at the non profit clinic and about her life before she had moved to Brooklyn. One thing they seemed to have in common was moving cities and it made for a good conversation topic for at least thirty minutes.

Bellamy smiled to himself as they both complained about the hardships of packing belongings as he excused himself to get some water. Shortly after Lincoln followed him.

“Clarke seems nice,” he said.

“Yeah,” Bellamy sighed, turning around to wash his glass. “How much did Octavia complain about me not elaborating?”

“You don’t wanna know.” There was the usual fondness in his voice, but also a hint of exasperation which had to said a lot. “I think it’s part of the reason why we even came here.”

Bellamy dried off the dish and turned back with a sigh, crossing his arms. “Well, at least something good turned out of it.”

Lincoln gave him a look and he noticed his choice of words. It sounded like he didn’t consider Clarke, his girlfriend, a good thing. “I mean,” he tried again. “Out of me not not telling Octavia more. That’s what I meant. Clarke is, of course, a good thing. The best thing.”

“What am I?” Obviously this was the moment Clarke appeared in the kitchen, a light smile on her face as she grabbed a glass of water and snuggled into his side. Her palm on his chest, her body pressed against his side - to be honest it didn't feel as strange as he suspected. It felt natural.

“I just told Lincoln you’re the best thing that happened to me,” he said, playing along.

“Oh really?” Clarke basically purred before surprising him with a feather light peck on his lips.

Bellamy had seriously underestimated Clarke and her abilities at pretending to be a girlfriend. Maybe he had been right that one time he thought she was perfect girlfriend material. She was. Thankfully, Lincoln just smiled and didn’t notice his surprise - he was totally buying it - and left the kitchen.

“So how am I doing?” Clarke whisper-asked him once Lincoln was out of sigh. He couldn’t help but notice that she had moved an inch back as well.

“Well, you certainly convinced Lincoln,” he joked and felt a jolt of pride when a faint blush crept up her cheek. Clarke’s expression remained unbothered though. “How’s Octavia treating you?” he wanted to know.

“So far, so good. But you were right, she _is_ intense.”

“Told you.”

“Yeah.” Clarke swept a strand of hair out of her face and sighed, looking at him. “But we’re doing okay, right?”

“Look at that, who’s the nervous one now?” Bellamy chuckled in a teasing tone, stifling the urge to pat her cheek or something cheesy like that. Even without that, Clarke shot him a glare and punched his shoulder.

“I’m not nervous. I just wanna deliver my best performance.”

Ever the control freak, he thought to himself. “You’re a great girlfriend. Come on,” he placed an around her waist and lead her back to the living room. “Best performance.”

The evening went by without any incidents. Bellamy and Clarke shared a spot on the couch, huddled together, while Lincoln settled on the bean bag with Octavia on his lap. Together they chatted about their plans for for the month in Brooklyn and tomorrow’s night out at the Dropship. Not long after Octavia proclaimed she was tired after the flight and wanted to go to sleep. Clarke took that as a cue to leave.

“It was so nice to meet you guys,” she told Octavia and Lincoln before giving each of them a brief hug.

“You’ll be there tomorrow, right?” Octavia inquired with a certain glint in her eyes.

“Yeah, of course.” Clarke turned to to the door and Bellamy followed.

“Do you want me to give you a ride home?”

“No, it’s fine -”

“Oh, you two go,” Octavia called from the guest room. Of course she was listening. “We need to unpack and get bed ready anyway, Bell. Go drive your girlfriend home.”

It either meant that she wanted some time alone with Lincoln - which was just gross - or she pushed him to spend more time with his own girlfriend. Bellamy couldn’t decide which one was more annoying, but it was certainly both very Octavia like and didn’t leave him much choice.

Since Clarke didn’t live that far away, the drive wasn’t long. He stopped in front of the fancy building she was living in and looked at her.

“Thank you, Clarke.”

She returned the smile, bright and electric. “It’s not that bad to play your girlfriend, to be honest.”

“I’m glad,” he huffed out.

“Just… let’s not fall in love with each other like in all those movies, deal?”

“I think we can manage that,” Bellamy said, an amused grin on his face but Clarke was actually serious, waiting for the word. He rolled his eyes. “Deal.”

“Okay, great. See you tomorrow, _honeypie_!” And then she was already out of the car, jogging up the stairs to her apartment. 


	2. Chapter 2

Pretending to be someone’s girlfriend was not the strangest thing Clarke had ever done, but it was definitely in her top three, right next to hooking up with the girl who was her boyfriend’s actual fiance and witnessing that same girl talking about brooms and closets while she was high on hallucinogenic drugs. (Clarke had a lot of fun with Raven.) But it had felt easy to slide her arms around his chest, lean onto him or even give him a kiss the day before. Now they only had to keep up the performance for the next thirty days. Easy. And it didn’t hurt that Bellamy was also insanely attractive.

The only thing she was worried about was keeping the act in front of her friends, especially Raven, and dealing with the one person they had to convince the most: Octavia Blake. She was a tough cookie that much was sure.

The first issue came into play when she went to brunch with Raven - the first time after their 'reveal' at movie night. Surely enough, five minutes in Raven seized her with _that_ look and dropped the menu.

“So,” she said, her smile almost scary. “Spill. I want all the details.”

Clarke smiled shyly into her soda, swallowing. “It’s nothing special, really. We went out for a drink a couple of months ago, hooked up and decided to give it a go. Rest is history.”

For a moment Raven didn’t say anything, her gaze focused on Clarke’s face. Then: “You really could have fooled me.” Her heart almost sank. “I mean, I suspected that you had the hots for Bellamy but I never would have guessed you were fucking behind our backs.”

Clarke sighed in relief, and mustered up a laugh. “We’re good actors, I guess. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I wanted to, really, but -” she shrugged. “- it was all so new and we had the same friends. We just thought it would be better to keep it quiet in case things went south.”

“I get it.” It was followed by a mischievous smirk as she leaned forward and wiggled her brows. “Now, the dirty details, though. How’s the sex? His dick is huge, right?”

Clarke always forgot that Raven had once slept with Bellamy, and it came as a surprise every time. But damn, this was just awkward. She liked discussing her sex life with Raven or hearing about all the crazy things she had been up, but now she had to lie and make things up. What if she said something wrong, something that couldn’t be right and Raven would notice? 

“I, um,” she stuttered, leaning away from Raven as she searched for words. “Yeah, yeah, it’s good. The sex is great.”

“You don’t sound like it,” Raven accused with an arched brow.

“It’s just - um, we didn’t have many opportunities lately. We are both busy and now his sister is here and… it’s been a dry spell.”

Luckily the part about his sister got Raven’s attention. “Oh, and how’s that going? Have you already met Octavia?”

“Yesterday.”

“Strong personality, right?”

Clarke exhaled, nodding. “Very. Is she always like that?”

„Mmm,“ Raven hummed, clearly struggling to find the right answer, „I wasn't her biggest fans at the beginning either, but don‘t worry. You‘ll get used to it.“

To be honest, that didn‘t sound very promising but Clarke withheld any premature judgement and hoped she would see for herself in the next few days. In the worst case she could pretend to be too busy with work to hang out with her, and still be Bellamy‘s fake girlfriend.

Raven dove right in a rant about her insanely attractive but infuriatingly competitive colleague at work that she wanted to bang so thankfully there wasn‘t any more Bellamy‘s-dick-talk. 

They strolled through the city after brunch. Raven needed a new pair of jeans and Clarke had nothing else to do, so they checked out a few shops and made fun of pretentious dresses hanging in the show cases. Clarke was pretty sure Raven was the only person earth who was able to make something as horrendous as shopping fun.

A couple of hours before the gang met at the Dropship Clarke went home to grab something to eat and change. She was about to hop in the shower and shave when her phone started vibrating on the floor.

„Hello?“

„Hey.“ It was Bellamy. „You free right now?“

Clarke frowned, looking down at her legs that looked like they haven‘t been shaved since 1989. „Depends. Leaving-my-apartment-free or being-on-the-phone-free?“

„The latter,“ she heard him chuckle.

Well, the shower had to wait but the shaving could be done anyway. She juggled her cell phone between her shoulder and her ear as she sat down on the floor. „Then I guess yeah. What‘s up?“

„I just wanted to give you a heads up about a couple of things.“ Clarke huffed out a laugh, soaping her legs in with shaving cream, because there was always something he had to warn her about. „Octavia and Lincoln want to make a trip to the Hamptons and I uh - they‘ll probably ask you to come with us.“

„Oh,“ she said. „The Hamptons are nice.“

„You obviously don‘t have to go,“ Bellamy told her. „You can tell them you have work or something. I just didn‘t want them to ambush you.“

„Yeah, I get it.“ Clarke accidentally cut into the skin on her knee and let out a low, „Fuck.“

Apparently Bellamy heard that because he asked, „What are you doing?“ with an an audible grin in his voice. Clarke debated for a second if it was TMI, but eventually shrugged.

„Shaving.“

There was another chuckle on the end of the other line. „You know we don‘t actually have to sleep —“

„I‘m well aware,“ Clarke cut in before he could go any further, jaw flexing stubbornly for no one but herself. „Don‘t flatter yourself, Blake.“

„Whatever you say. Anyway yeah, O‘ is probably gonna ask you at some point.“

“Well, what would a good girlfriend do? Say yes and come along or -?”

She heard him huff something incoherent before replying, “I don’t know about that but a good boyfriend would let his girlfriend make her own decision.”

“You know we’re not going to get very far if we go on like that, right?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Do what you want. I only wanted to warn you.”

“You did. Well, even if wanted to come along, I actually do have a job and wouldn’t be able to take time off without clearing my schedule first. Soo…”

“See? Tell her that.”

“Okay,” she said and looked at her left leg, glistening and shining like a baby’s bum. As much as she hated shaving, the soft and smooth results afterwards never ceased to fascinate her. Bellamy tore her out of that fascination though.

“You’re coming tonight, right?”

“Sure am,” Clarke replied. “Like I would ever miss an opportunity to play your girlfriend.”

“See you later, Clarke.”

-

Clarke was running a little late to the Dropship because her stupid self had started the newest episode of Grey’s Anatomy while getting ready. Of course, she didn’t notice that she was supposed to be already there fifteen minutes ago when the screen faded to black, but oh well. She flung on her sneakers and hurried down the few blocks until she reached the bar that had become second home to her friends. She had to admit that her heart was beating wilder than usual when she walked through the crowded place — and not because her pace of walking had been fast. Octavia was here, and everyone else, too, which meant her relationship game with Bellamy would have to be on point.

Thankfully, he was the first one who spotted her and immediately freed some space next to him — much to Miller’s dismay — so that she could sit down. Smiling, he leaned in and gave her a greeting peck.

It was interesting to see the group with Octavia and Lincoln. From what Clarke had gathered she moved away two years ago because she got a full ride college scholarship in Richmond — also the place where she had met Lincoln. But before that she had been a beloved member of the gang. And Clarke saw that now; the way Monty and Jasper fell over her with new stories and questions, the way Miller teased her and ruffled her hair lovingly like she was his little sister, too. It was like their small family was reunited.

When they were reminiscing about the old times, particularly that one time Octavia, Jasper, Monty, Miller and Bellamy had climbed the roof of their school, Clarke noticed Octavia’s eyes flicker over to her. It wasn’t a mean look, but it was a look that said something. She cast a self conscious glance to herself and Bellamy, who were close but not as close as all the other couples around the table. Emori and Murphy weren’t much for PDA but he still had an arm around her shoulder, and she leaned in to whisper something into his ear and giggle every now and then. Harper and Monty’s hands were always interlaced on the table. And Octavia herself was basically sitting on her own boyfriend’s lap, completely snuggled into him.

Yeah, okay, Clarke and Bellamy weren’t the most couply couple in the room right now, but they still had time to change that. After all, she had promised him to be a good girlfriend, right?

With a smile she placed her hand on his on the table, a small gesture that made him glance at her nonetheless. Bellamy wasn’t one to not play along as well, so he dropped his arm around her and squeezed her into his side.

Clarke didn’t look at Octavia, not wanting to be obvious but she grinned happily — not because she wanted to look happy, but because she kind of was in that moment.

She listened to a lot more old stories about everyone around the table, including some really funny and embarrassing ones about Bellamy that she teased him about.

“Really?” Clarke asked, not able to contain her huge grin. “You created the slogan _whatever the hell we want_ in your senior year?”

Bellamy groaned, dropping his head on her shoulder. “I was young!”

“You were eighteen,” Octavia called from the other end of the table, laughing like every single one of her friends.

“And it seemed like a cool idea back then!”

“Aww, it probably was,” Clarke cooed and nuzzled his cheek that was still resting on her shoulder. “It’s just sounds really douchey now.”

They stayed and talked deep into the night, but somewhere around one people got tired and sleepy so most of them called it a night. Octavia and Lincoln would be staying here for another month, so there was still plenty of time to catch up and make new memories. Bellamy offered to give her a ride home since he was the designated driver for his sister anyway.

“Lincoln managed to get us a table at that popular Italian restaurant,” Octavia told them once they were in the car. That got Clarke excited.

“Oh my god, really? I’ve been trying for the past month but it was always, always crowded.”

“I have a friend who works there,” Lincoln explained from the backseat and she made a face of understanding. Connections in Brooklyn were everything, but since she had moved here half a year ago herself she hadn't really made many so far.

Octavia’s face popped between them and she presented a wide grin. “You guys can come along. We can make it a double date.”

Clarke exchanged a knowing look with Bellamy, the one that said _she is at it again_ , but to be honest the idea really appealed to her. The restaurant had received excellent reviews, and who didn’t love a mean pasta? She did. So she decided to reply before Bellamy could offer any excuse. “We’d love to! Right, babe?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Bellamy shrugged but seemed to be fine with it.

“Great,” his sister chirped and leaned back again, mumbling something to Lincoln as Clarke looked out the window and smiled. It was a dinner, and Italian food, what could go wrong?

As it turned out, a lot.

It started out well enough. They picked her up in the evening, she wore a pretty lilac dress and loose curls, and everyone ordered wine and delicious sounding food. However, once that arrived Octavia’s attitude made a 180 degree turn from smiley-little-sister to CIA-interrogator as she started bombarding Clarke with questions.

“You’re not sure whether to become a doctor or an artist. How sure are about other things in your life then?”

“I mean… I’m pretty sure about the people I care about.”

“So you won’t just change your mind one day and bail on Bellamy?”

“O’,” Bellamy warned next to Clarke, but his sister didn’t even spare him a glance.

“Will you?”

Clarke’s brows knitted into a scowl. The question sounded more like an accusation, not a very nice one on top of that. “Of course not.”

“What about kids? You like ‘em?” Octavia pushed on, ignoring her boyfriend’s hand on her arm. “Because Bellamy loves children.”

“I think our relationship isn’t in that stage yet where that’s important. But I do like children, as a matter of fact.”

Octavia raised a challenging brow. “But you can’t see you two reaching that stage, or what?”

“I can, it's just that it will be a matter between Bellamy and me to discuss,” Clarke shot back, managing to stay uncharacteristically calm. To her surprise, Octavia’s face finally softened and she nodded as if the answer had somehow pleased her.

“Great! My spaghetti are freaking delicious, by the way.”

The weird atmosphere left as fast as it had come, and soon the conversation returned to more normal things like Miller’s new boyfriend or the weather. Apparently that was what Bellamy had meant by intense, though. He confirmed that when he leaned in to her some time later and murmured, “Sorry”. Clarke returned his worried gaze with a smile, meaning that she was okay. Well, she had survived at least.

After they payed Bellamy and Lincoln went to restroom which left Clarke and Octavia on their own for a while. She dreaded the thought, especially when she saw Octavia tuck away her phone and approach her.

“Hey,” she said, with a growing smile, “I just wanted apologize for the rough treatment earlier.” Okay, that was not what Clarke had expected to hear. “My brother and Lincoln disapprove with this method, but I just -” she shrugged. “- it shows what kind of person you are, and you know I only want the best for my brother. And you’re good, Clarke. Good for him. I see that now, the way you care about each other.”

“Um, thanks?”

“You passed the test.” Her face split into a wide grin before she punched her in the shoulder — it was probably supposed to be playful, but girl had a really good punch.

“I’m glad,” Clarke said, still confused but more relaxed now. She had passed the test, whatever the hell that meant.

-

Things went well after his sister’s FBI moment, Bellamy could say. (Although he really had to have a talk with her someday to stop making people shit their pants with her scary attitude, in case he ever got a real girlfriend someday.) Clarke dropped by now and and then through the first week, and they pretended to be a happy couple while they were having a movie night or take out. It was almost scary how easy it was to have her snuggle into his chest or give her a small kiss on the lips, but. Bellamy figured it was just a weird chemistry thing. And Octavia gradually warmed up to her which meant everything was working out.

On a Tuesday Bellamy came home from work, grabbed a beer and fell on the couch, that was unoccupied for once. His sister and Lincoln were at the store, buying themselves organic protein supplements or some shit, so he had some free time which he intended to spend with watching football. Ten minutes in he received a text from Clarke.

She had sent him a picture of an obscure painting and a text that said: _You think Octavia would like something like this??_

Of course, he got curious and called her. Clarke picked up after the first ring.

“Why are you always calling me instead of simply texting a reply?” was the greeting he got.

“It’s much simpler than texting.”

“It’s old-fashioned! You’re old, Bellamy.”

“I’m only four years older than you.”

“Exactly my point,” Clarke told him in her I-am-right-and-you-know-it voice but he could also hear the smile that was hiding underneath. “Anyway, grandpa. You think this would fit into their apartment? Or is it more cozy and cute than modern?”

“Remind me, why exactly are you buying paintings for my sister?”

“It’s called being nice, duh.” Rolling his eyes, he let his head fall back on the cushions. “And I may have been bored, so I went art shopping,” she added moments later. “It’s still a nice gesture.”

“You know you don’t have do that, right?”

He heard her sigh on the other line, which made him smile for some reason. “I’m aware, Bellamy. But I want to be the best fake girlfriend you ever had, okay? Besides, I don’t have much to do anyway.”

“Don’t you have a job that’s keeping you busy all day?”

“I have a free day,” she explained and a sudden noise of sirens wailing came through the speaker.

“So you went to shop paintings?”

“Glad you got it after the third time, yeah. Raven’s at work, and all the others are either — I don’t know — in class or spending time with their significant others. I’m fucking bored.”

His response came out before his brain could process what exactly it was. “I could keep you company.” A sudden silence stretched over the phone, and Bellamy didn’t know what just happened. Was he stupid?

Clarke spoke finally, though, “And do what?” Bellamy could basically hear her raising her brow.

“I could, um, help you with the painting,” he half stammered into the speaker, before clearing his throat and adding, more firmly, “I’ve been to her apartment, I know the colors.”

“Yeah, okay,” Clarke said after a moment, and so Bellamy exchanged his free afternoon of watching football for art shopping with Clarke.

It was weird because this was the first time they would do something… alone. The couple of times they had met to plan their fake relationship didn’t count because it had been obviously all business. Now it was purely out of boredom, though. And because they had gotten a bit closer. But Bellamy thought they got along quite well so he didn’t expect it to be — awkward.

It wasn’t.

The moment Clarke saw him enter her latest store, she assailed him with questions about Octavia’s apartment as they easily swung into their bickering-and-teasing-dynamic. Bellamy provided her with the needed information and together they searched through the stores and created a top ten selection. He also gave her an on going commentary that Clarke probably hadn’t asked for, but still enjoyed.

“This would look great,” he said dryly, looking at a painting of a doll-figure-something with a completely white face and an ugly black bob cut, “On the bathroom wall of a goth-anime shop.” It really looked like a badly drawn anime woman.

Clarke let out a laugh, but rolled her eyes at him. “I thought you said they have these sculptures in their living room?”

“Yeah, but they’re artsy, modern —” He waves his hand at the painting. “— this is just crap.”

Glancing at him, her mouth curled into a smirk and she elbowed him lightly. “Never thought you’d be such an art snob.”

“Am not,” Bellamy grumbled, following her to the next aisle.

In the end they settled for a lurid painting that showed a woman’s distorted face, each version displaying a new color. He thought it would make a great match to Octavia’s dark purple carpet while Clarke gushed about its unique academic painting style or something like that.

She also decided that they needed a reward for their effort, dragging him to the nearest gelato shop. Banana ice cream was his go to so Bellamy was holding his ice cream two minutes later, whereas Clarke made a big fucking deal out of it. (“Toffee looks good — BUT WAIT, LOOK AT THAT NUTELLA ONE!”). Eventually, she picked cookie dough, though, and they sat at a table, bonding over their mutual disgust in plain chocolate ice cream.

“I love food,” she declared, “I’m being completely honest if I say I would die for it.” Her eyes kept fluttering shut as she licked her ice cream and not that Bellamy’s mind went there, but dammit it looked all kinds of inappropriate.

Forcing himself to take his mind out off the gutter, he cleared his throat and said, “Well, you would die without it.”

“But I would also die for it. Like if it was me or food, I would sacrifice myself for the sake of humanity’s well-being.”

“That’s strangely specific,” Bellamy remarked, brows furrowing in exaggerated concern. “Have you already thought about this?”

Clarke’s gaze snapped to him, eyes crinkling around the corners as she let out a small but incredibly beaming grin. “You know nothing, Bellamy Blake.”

And that was how they jumped from food to Game of Thrones, ending up in a heated debate about the fate of Jon and Daenerys. (He insisted that their relationship wouldn’t hold long once his true origin came out.) After more laughter and grinning he could count several hours later, they decided it would be time to head home — or, Bellamy’s apartment, because she was eager to give the painting to his sister.

Octavia had a major freak out over the gift and thanked her with a lot of hugs and an invitation to movie night. Since Lincoln also offered to cook Clarke agreed. They settled in the living room with plates full of lasagna and Inception running. All in all, a pretty good night.

Bellamy glanced down at Clarke whose head was laying in his lap, her hand lazily stroking up and down his leg, and realized that the girl he barely had barely known a week ago had become something so close. The realization was surprising, but it also made a soft warmth spread in his chest. Funny.

-

  
Clarke was startled out of sleep when she heard a loud thumping noise, followed by a whispered, “Sorry!” Still extremely tired and confused, she opened her eyes and glanced around, trying to remember where the fuck she was. There was a coffee table in front of her with a book on top of it, a grey carpet — of course, she was at Bellamy’s. They had been watching Shutter Island when she must had drifted off. Yawning, she sat up and tried to regain some of her brain usage.

“Sleep well?” Bellamy came up behind her and offered her a glass of water that she accepted.

Clarke took a few gulps, still out of it. “I’m sorry,” she said eventually. “I didn’t meant to fall asleep. How late is it?”

“Around two,” he said, picking up things from the couch and the floor. “Octavia and Lincoln just went to bed.”

Damn it, she hadn’t meant to stay up that late. Thankfully, she didn’t have an early shift tomorrow but a shift nonetheless, so she had to go home and have a proper sleep. Clarke stood up, looking for her jacket and her bag that her stupid past self had trashed away somewhere.

„You really wanna go home now?“

„Yeah, well, sleeping on the couch is not really an option with your sister in the guest room,“ she said before finally spotting her beg on the kitchen counter. However, Bellamy caught her wrist.

„You know, I have a perfectly functioning bed.“

„Bellamy -“

„Just an offer,“ he said, holding up his hands in defense, „If you wanna got home, I‘ll give you a ride, but if you‘re tired… you could just stay here.“

Clarke thought about it, a frown settling on her forehead. On the one hand she didn‘t want to bother him, but on the other… going home right now seemed like such a long and hard thing to do. „You don‘t mind sharing your bed with me?“

„No, Clarke. It‘s not a big deal.“ With that he took her hands and slowly lead her into his bedroom. Clarke couldn‘t help but laugh at the way he was so soft and gentlemany.

„Here,“ he said, giving her a shirt he had just pulled out of his closet. „You want -“

„No, it‘s fine,“ Clarke cut in but accepted the shirt. It was summer, the nights were hot so sleeping in a long shirt and panties seemed to be enough. She hoped he wouldn‘t mind the exposure of her legs.

She changed in the bathroom, washed her face and rinsed her mouth with mouth wash. When she came back Bellamy was already in bed, reading a book. Clarke plopped down next to him and peered over his chest. „Whatcha reading?“

„It’s called Metamorphoses.“

Clarke squinted at him, barely containing a snort. „Sounds nerdy.“

He shot her a glare that she reciprocated with a cheeky smile. „It‘s not,“ Bellamy grumbled and shoved her away playfully.

„Fine,“ Clarke sighed melodramatically as she settled on her side, „If you wanna ignore your girlfriend…“

„You‘re so full of shit, Clarke.“

„So rude,“ she continued, taking interest in getting at his nerves. Somehow it was just adorable the way he got all worked up, brows furrowing and nostrils flaring. Sue her.

Suddenly she felt two large hands land on her waist and before she could protest he started tickling her. There were a couple of things in life Clarke Griffin couldn‘t handle — vomiting, swallowing pills, and _tickling_.

„Bellamy!“ she squeaked, trying to slap his hands away but of course he was much stronger and larger so he just kept tickling her. „Please, please, I give up, okay? I surrender. You won!“

Finally he came to an halt above her, their fingers interlaced at her sides and for a moment he just stared at her, pupils wide. Clarke swallowed, her eyes momentarily flicking down to his lips before she realized what she was doing.

They were not really together.

Maybe Bellamy came to the same conclusion because he cleared his throat and eased the grip on her, sitting back. „Not nerdy.“

„Not at all,“ she sighed and took another forceful gulp. „Can we go to sleep now? I‘m really tired.“

„Yeah, sure.“

Bellamy stretched to his night stand and flicked off the lamp, crawling back under his covers. Clarke just lied in the darkness, going over the last week, until her eyes drifted close and she fell asleep.

-

„Clarke.“

She grunted, squeezing her eyes shut tighter in hope that it would keep her in the dream world for another few minutes.

„Clarke!“

„What,“ she whined and let out a few over dramatic fake sobs. It was unfair to wake her up when it felt so good. Unfair.

Clarke heard Bellamy sigh above her „You need to let go of my arm.“

Oh.

Finally opening her eyes, she glanced down and saw what he meant. She was clutching his entire arm like a stuffed toy, not letting him move let alone get up. „Sorry,” Clarke mumbled after she let go of it, rubbing her eyes.

“‘s fine,” Bellamy said and made his way out of bed. Clarke watched him shuffle around the room, not able to do the same yet. „You want coffee? Tea?“ he asked before leaving the room.

„Coffee, please.“ He nodded, turning to leave. „And a toast,“ she added, hopeful.

„Right on.“

„You‘re amazing,“ Clarke called after him. „I love you, baby!“

It didn‘t hurt to shout out their love for each other, especially if Octavia happened to overhear it. (And it was kind of funny to come up with all kinds of ridiculous pet names.) It took her another ten minutes of lying around and mentally preparing herself to get up and wash her face in the bathroom before she shuffled into the kitchen.

Everyone else was already awake. Octavia was drinking one of those breakfast smoothies, Lincoln sitting next to her and rubbing her shoulder, and Bellamy was across from them, coffee in one hand and newspaper in the other.

„I think you‘re the only person who still reads actual newspaper,“ Clarke teased as a way of greeting but pressed a kiss to the side of his neck anyway — for realistic points. The only response she got as she sat down in front of her toast was a grunt.

Octavia answered, though, „That‘s what I‘ve been telling him for years now. Finally someone who gets it.“

„I mean it‘s cute,“ Clarke grinned and poked his cheek, „but he is a walking grandpa.“

„He even buys DVDs sometimes,“ Octavia told her, shaking her head and both of them started laughing.

„You know I‘m right here, right?“

„I think that‘s the point, Bell,“ his sister said with a smirk and yelped a second later. It sounded like he had kicked her under the table. Clarke hid her behind her toast, silently wondering how it was possible for her to smile in the morning where a glare was all she could usually manage. She guessed it had something to do with the people around her.

Bellamy offered to drop her off on his way to work afterwards so she grabbed her things and they chatted about upcoming plans in the car. Since Clarke had classes in the morning and shifts at the clinic afterwards, the next few days wouldn’t allow her to do awfully much except fall into her bed at night and maybe watch some Netflix. But there was their usual night at the Dropship on friday. She was already looking forward to that.

Clarke had been right about the next days. Work left her exhausted, and every day she came home to darkness in her apartment and an empty fridge because she never had the damn time to go grocery shopping.

Today was no exception and she was basically rotting on her couch, trying to decide between ordering take out for the fourth time this week or simply go to sleep hungry. Clarke was about to fuck it all when her phone vibrated with a new text.

It was Bellamy. They were texting quite often these days.

_You don’t have any energy left for another movie night with O’, Lincoln and me, do you?_

She let out a tired smile as she texted back. _Sorry, I’m too dead rn. I can’t even gather the strength to make myself something to eat. And you know how much I love food._  As good as a movie night sounded, Clarke was simply too done with her life. Using her feet to go over to his place sounded like a challenge she would rather pass.

 _It’s alright, get some rest_ , it came back a few moments later. _Take out?_

Clarke huffed. If only she hadn’t done that a hundred times already. _I’ve been living off take out for the last week, I seriously can’t see it anymore. Gonna throw up or smth._ She returned her eyes to the screen where a random Grey’s Anatomy episode was running. Her phone vibrated again after five minutes.

_Go cook yourself something then. Food is important, Clarke._

_Nah, too tired,_ she texted back. _I’m gonna eat tomorrow before class._

Bellamy replied something about being irresponsible but she was even too lazy to answer at this point. Clarke was pushing herself to watch the last few minutes of the episode when her door bell rang. Weird, because she was pretty sure she wasn’t expecting anyone. Still, she managed to get up and open the door, letting out a surprised laugh when she saw who was at the door.

“Bellamy? What are you doing here?”

Smirking, he held up a bag that had several ingredients inside. “Cooking. So that you won’t starve.”

Clarke let him walk past her into her apartment, still bewildered that he actually drove here to — what, cook for her? It was kind of ridiculous but also weirdly touching. She followed him into the kitchen, amused that he started unloading the bag like it was something he did every day. Bellamy was at her place for the first time, though.

“You know that it’s almost midnight, right?”

“Yes,” he said, easy. “I’m aware of the time. Where are your pots?”

She pointed to the top drawer on his left and he opened it, getting out a medium sized pot that he proceeded to fill with water and place on the stove. “So, are you going to tell me what you’re making?” Clarke wanted to know, face propped on her hand as she watched him work.

Bellamy didn’t turn around as he answered, “Nope. You’ll see soon enough.” and she huffed. Surprises weren’t her favorite things in this world.

“You’re stupid,” she told him with a pout, “But this is… very boyfriendish of you.”

“I swear I wasn’t even thinking about that when I came here.”

“Oh, really. And what were you thinking?”

At this he finally looked at her, an earnest expression gracing his features. “I told you, food is important, especially if you’re on your feet all day.” It felt like there was more, though, so she raised her brow, waiting. “And,” he went on with a sheepish sigh, “I may or may not wanted to escape my sister and her very attractive, very buff boyfriend on their movie date night.”

Clarke couldn’t help the snort that escaped her. “Seriously? They’re gonna bang?”

“Shhh,” Bellamy almost shrieked, his face twisting in disgust before he turned back to the stove. “I prefer to believe they’re just… watching a movie.”

“Netflix and chill, alright. Got it.”

“Yeah.” He said so genuinely that Clarke realized he probably didn’t know the proper meaning behind Netflix and Chill. But bursting his already spoiled bubble felt cruel in that moment, so she let it go and just watched him cook for the next few minutes, only his occasional remark filling the comfortable silence.

Soon enough a delicious smell filled the room, and by the time he placed two plates in front of her, Clarke’s mouth was watering. It was pasta, but with lots of vegetables and a thick sauce enveloping it, along with an extra salad.

“Oh my god,” she said, grabbing the fork, “I could kiss you right now, Bellamy Blake.”

“I mean you are my girlfriend…” She shoot him a look, rolling her eyes, but had to grin because he was grinning, too, and the food was delicious and fuck — feeling very emotional in that moment, Clarke got up, walked around the counter and wrapped her arms around Bellamy. She could feel that he was surprised by the spontaneous hug, his body stiff, but then his hands came around her back, one on the back of her head and he relaxed into her touch. She did as well, her heart clenching at the sudden surge of emotions she was feeling.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest before pulling back a little. “I just… nobody has ever done something like this for me.” Not Lexa, not even Finn and he had used to be keen on grand romantic gestures (except when it came to being faithful).

Bellamy gave her one of his rare gentle smiles and brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Hey, of course.” Again, the gesture felt — it felt so overwhelming and yet so badly needed that Clarke got all choked up, unexpected tears swelling in her eyes. “No, Clarke. Are you crying?”

“No,” she sniffed, crying. Exasperated by her own damn self, she threw her hands into the air and shrugged. “I don’t know what’s happening.” On second thought, though, she did. God, it was so obvious. The tears stopped and she lifted her eyes to Bellamy who was looking at her, eyes furrowed in concern. She let out a laugh, wiping at her eyes. “I think I’m PMSing.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry, tmi.” Clarke took a step back, feeling very awkward all of a sudden. “Um — thank you, really, that was not PMS. The crying was, though, I am sorry for that, by the way.”

Bellamy was looking at her now like she was talking crazy and she wanted to say something else, but he started grinning and shaking his head in that fondly manner. “Just eat,” he ordered, so she did.

Clarke was thankful the conversation didn’t feel awkward after that — despite her breaking into actual tears moments earlier. Bellamy made himself a plate, too, and listened to her talk about her day at work. In the end she scarfed down three servings without any comments from him which she was also grateful for.

She noticed that she seemed an awful lot thankful these days, but how could she not? Bellamy was simply a pretty amazing human, and friend. It made her wonder why she had never seen it before, his true personality, but she delayed the thought for another time.

It was pretty late by the time they were done with food and Clarke felt the exhaustion returning. Technically, she should go to sleep but Bellamy was here...and he had cooked for her, so it only seemed fair to stay awake a little longer. But he noticed, anyway.

“I should go now,” he said when she yawned for the third time.

“No, no, I - I’m not tired.” Bellamy arched a disbelieving eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. “Fine, maybe I am somewhat tired, but that doesn’t mean you have to go. I’m gonna be tired in the morning anyway.”

“No, it’s fine,” he insisted, getting up. “I could use some sleep myself.”

Clarke pressed her mouth into a line and gave him a look. “Well, you could sleep here.” When he only stared at her, a little surprised, she quickly added, “So we won’t be interrupting any date nights. Besides, relationship points.”

He seemed to be thinking about it until he gave a shrug. “You make a point.”

She left to prepare the guest room while Bellamy made the dishes. When Clarke came back he was on the couch, scrolling through her Netflix.

“Looking for anything specific?” she asked, leaning up from behind.

“Not really, I thought maybe Netflix has some cool documentaries.”

Clarke made a face, wondering how someone like him could be interested in watching… documentaries. (Well, it was called history buff for a reason.) She climbed over the couch and plopped down next to him as he continued dismissing every title that didn’t appease to him, Eventually he settled on a film called _Cave of forgotten dreams_. It didn't sound particularly exciting, but she didn’t complain. Clarke had no idea when they decided to watch a movie, but it didn’t matter because the documentary started and Bellamy stretched his arm, inviting her to tuck into his chest which she did.

It was about those paintings in the french caves — that’s all she got before Clarke closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of Bellamy’s chest, and blacked out.

-

Waking up was… weird.

For one, Clarke had slept on the fucking couch which guaranteed her back and neck pain for the next day. Then there was the fact that she was wrapped up in Bellamy’s arms. He was laying behind Clarke, spooning her but with much more embrace. Probably so that she wouldn’t fall of the couch. And, well… it felt great?

Clarke liked cuddling; Lexa and her had spent whole days snuggled up in bed back then, but when it came to accidental cuddles with friends and non romantic partners it always made her feel a little weird. She wasn’t the touchiest person, you could say. But with Bellamy… he was so warm, like a goddamn heater, and it made it very hard to get up. It also was just nice, being held like that. Clarke was ready to melt in his arms.

The thing was, though, that she had gotten used to touch him around the others — after all, they were ‘a couple’. But this was different. There was nobody to impress here, and yet his arms were wrapped around her waist and Clarke couldn’t bother to wiggle out.

Fuck.

She closed her eyes again when Bellamy stirred behind her. His arms eased around her until they fell away completely and she felt him sit up. For some reason Clarke kept her eyes shut, letting Bellamy awkwardly climb over her and shuffle around the room in silence. Maybe she was still in that half slumber, or maybe she didn’t have the courage to face him after they had spent the night cuddling.

“Hey,” Bellamy’s voice murmured after a while, “I gotta go, keep sleeping.” There was a soft pressure on her cheek — he was touching her face, and Clarke wanted to say something but all she could manage was an, “Mmm.” And then he was gone.

-

  
Octavia asked Clarke to go to the city with her the next day, and she said yes. To be honest a part of her had already been waiting for this and Bellamy had warned her once, too. But ever since the dinner interrogation the girl seemed nice enough.

They entered a few stores even though neither of them needed anything. It was more about getting to know Clarke rather than shopping. Their conversation topics varied from Octavia‘s life in Richmond to Monty and Harper‘s upcoming 6 years anniversary. Not only that, though, it would also be the night he wanted to propose.

„They still seem to be very happy from what I‘ve seen,“ Octavia said when they sat down at one of the outdoor tables in Starbucks.

Clarke nodded, sipping on her strawberry frappuccino. „They are. They have these monthly theme dates where they do something special? It‘s really sweet.“

„You think Harper will say yes?“

She frowned. That seemed like a rather absurd question. „Well, yeah. I mean they have probably talked about it at some point, right?“ She placed the drink on the table. „I personally believe you should discuss getting married before you propose.“

Octavia looked at her like she wanted to say something but wasn‘t sure how. Eventually she leaned forward and bit her lip. „You know, me and Lincoln have talked about it, too.“

„What?“

Her mouth fell wide open as she stared at the girl in front of her. There were several things things were wrong with this, the first one being: why the hell did she tell Clarke — someone she had met a little over a week ago? Then there was the thing that she was Bellamy‘s little sister and knowing him, he would totally freak out. Sure Lincoln and her seemed like a great couple, but… Bellamy told her they had only been together for two years. A slightly smaller number compared to Monty and Harper‘s six years.

„You - you‘re getting engaged?“

„No,“ Octavia said, waving her hand dismissively. „I mean someday yeah, but not right now. My brother would lose his shit.“ Clarke nodded eagerly. „But… in a year, or two. Lincoln is _it_ for me, you know? It‘s been two years with him but I just know that it can only be him. I‘ve known since our first kiss.“

The romantic in her believed her. It wasn‘t uncommon that people found their one true love on the first try. Clarke liked to believe that there was more than one love for her out there, though, more than one chance, each love different on its own.

So she let out a sympathetic smile as she nodded. „It‘s great what you have with each other.“

„Yeah, I’m pretty lucky.” Again Octavia worried her lip, another confession on her mind. “I don’t mean to intrude but… do you feel that way? With my brother?”

Clarke opened her mouth but in reality she had no clue what to say. Tell her a pretty lie? Or stay vague and ambiguous. Both of these options sucked. What came out was, “I don’t think it was the love at first sigh thing for me. More… falling in love over time, piece by piece, until one day I woke up and realized he has been it all the way.”

Octavia had a wide, happy smile on her face and for a split matter of seconds Clarke felt guilty.

“That’s... beautiful.“

She blushed.

„I didn‘t know what to think of you at first, Clarke, but now I see how much you love him. I‘m really glad that he had you.“

And now she couldn’t feel anything but guilty. It was all a lie - the relationship, the gestures, the kisses, her words. Octavia believed they were happy together, she liked it and… none of it was true.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sooooooooo sorry for the super late update. I'll try to post the next chapter by next week!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains gross amounts of fluff!

“You know you don’t have to be so reserved around us all the time, right?”

Bellamy frowned as he tore his gaze from the football game on TV and shot his sister an irritated look. “What?”

“You and Clarke,” she clarified, shrugging. “You can… jump each other. Go at it. Make out like horny teenagers. I don’t care.”

His frown deepened, although he could also feel a blush rising on his face. “You want me to - Octavia, what the fuck?”

“Well, don’t make it sound like I want you to film porn here. What I meant was that you’re always so modest around us, but I remember the way you were with Roma, Bell. You couldn’t keep your hands off each other, you were like bunnies -”

He held up his hand, cutting her off. “I think I got the message.” She shut her mouth with a pointed look. “I’m not the PDA kind of guy,” Bellamy grunted, feeling uncomfortable with this topic. Were they really that… reserved? Did Octavia start having doubts about their relationship?

“You aren’t,” his sister nodded as she trimmed her nails. “But you always managed to sneak off or something, and we always caught you anyways.” When he didn’t reply she added, “I just don’t want you guys to change because of our presence. Be the couple you always are.”

It made Bellamy think, even at Monty and Jasper‘s place.

 _Be the couple you always are_. He snorted inwardly, what a hilarious phrase his sister had chosen. Glancing to his side where Clarke was seated, he imagined what he would be doing if she was his actual girlfriend.

His hand would be on her knee, check. His arm around her shoulder, check. Would he try to kiss her just like that in front of all his friends? No. Maybe his sister was just on her usual bullshit, trying to prank him or something. Bellamy tried to let it go.

Clarke, on the other hand, seemed to battle her own inner demons because she was downing one drink after the other. He knew she liked drinking, but this seemed excessive even for her. Something was up.

He followed her to the kitchen when she wanted to get herself another glass of cola and rum, hand on her back.

“You alright?” Bellamy asked there.

Clarke’s eyes flickered to him before she looked away. “Yes.” He raised a brow. “No! I don’t know,” she stammered, shrugging. “Your sister is making me nervous.”

“Not only you,” he admitted.

“Let’s get drunk,” she blurted out, wildly determined. “Like crazy black out drunk.”

Bellamy sighed as he scratched his hair. “I can’t, I have an important appointment tomorrow.” Her face fell a little and he couldn’t help but reach out and stroke her arm. “But you go ahead. I’ll look after you.”

Her eyes lit up like that. “Yeah?”

“Of course.”

Her mouth tugged into this beaming smile and he had to blink for a second, thrown by it. She nodded and turned to leave but he caught her wrist. „Wait.“

„Mm?“

„Can I kiss you?“

Sure, leave it to Bellamy to blurt out the most out of context things. He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, „It‘s just… Octavia said something this morning—“

Clarke shrugged and stepped into his space, fingers touching the collar of his shirt. „Oh well. I‘m already halfway drunk.“ Then, she leaned up until her breath was ghosting over his lips and he closed the distance.

The kiss was slow, careful. It was the first time they kissed — really kissed and not just a brief peck. Bellamy brought his hand to her face, pulling closer but then drawing away before he sneaked in his tongue or something stupid.

There was a whoop from the living room, their friends giving them the desired reaction.

Clarke’s eyes glistened when she shot him a carefree smile and took his hand before leading him back to the couch.

It wasn’t anything special, Bellamy knew that. Octavia told him it was weird that they didn‘t touch each other that much, so they had to step up their game. And yet it was.

He pulled Clarke closer, hand resting on her hip as she slurped on her drink and listened to their friends. Over the next hour she slowly achieved her preferred state of drunkenness. Her laughter got louder, higher and she started stumbling over her words now and then.

“I wish I would‘ve waited,“ Harper said into her cup, hiding the sheepish grin. „It was so bad — so short.“

Raven let out a loud snort and leaned closer. „Wait, like size-short or time-short?“

„Kind of both?“

It made the room explode in laughter, especially Clarke who ducked her head and giggled into his chest. He stroked her head, both a way of amusement and physical support so that she wouldn‘t somehow fall off the bed.

„I feel you, Harper,“ she said when she looked up again, still grinning from eye to eye, „I know that feeling.“

„We all do,“ Raven agreed.

Clarke‘s brows wiggled locking eyes with Raven „Especially us.“

Bellamy wasn't really sure what exactly they were referring to, but he also didn‘t mind being kept in the dark about that. There was no need to know about guys who sucked in bed.

To his displeasure his little sister decided to join the conversation as well.

„Not to brag, but I haven‘t had that experience.“ She showed off a proud smirk and softly clapped Lincoln‘s shoulder who, unlike her, seemed less comfortable with the topic. Good. He shouldn‘t be. Or, he should but — whatever.

„Nobody cares, O‘!“

„Oh please,“ she shouted back, „You don‘t know how many times I had to listen to freaky shit about you. I‘m surprised you and Clarke haven‘t jumped each other in front of us already.“

„Just this morning you said —“

„Yadda, yadda, don‘t be a hypocrite,“ she sang with hands clasped over her ears.

„To be honest, I‘m surprised about that too,“ Jasper said. Monty nodded and elbowed his side.

„Right? All the eye-sex we had to witness all those months, I would‘ve expected full on sexy Bellarke sessions.“

A lot of of people seemed to agree.

Bellamy rolled his eyes, ready to bark out an answer when Clarke‘s face pressed into his neck, lips brushing against his skin as she spoke. „Are they talking about us?“

„Don‘t listen to em, Clarke,“ he murmured and brought up a hand to pet her soft hair. „They‘re all stupid.“

A soft giggle escaped her as she glanced up, peeking through her eyelashes. „We can give them a show if they want.“ Clarke wiggled her hips and started climbing him — literally climbing on his lap.

The others were clearly amused by the sound of their laughter, Bellamy rather startled. It was normal drunk girlfriend behavior, of course, but then again she wasn‘t his girlfriend, and Bellamy didn‘t want her to do something she would regret the day after.

So he paused her clumsy attempts to straddle him — or whatever it was that she was doing, moving around and breaking into snorts, hand touching his cheek. „Clarke,“ Bellamy warmed, careful.

„Come on, Bellamy.“ Her lips sloppily landed on his cheek, „We wanna be a good couple, riiight,“ she continued, her voice pitching lower — thankfully. Bellamy couldn‘t resist smiling when she slid her arms around his neck and nuzzled his nose „Honeyboo.“

And then Clarke kissed him.

It was sloppy and wet and she kept giggling, but he got more into it than he should because —

„Disgusting!“

She pulled away when a crumpled paper hit her head that. „Assholes!“

„That was hot,“ Murphy suddenly said next to them and Bellamy let out a dramatic groan. „As far as I‘m concerned you can go on.“

Thankfully his girlfriend took over the scolding and he didn‘t have to point out how gross and inappropriate Murphy was.

Clarke seemed to be more amused by it, her whole face rumbling with laughter as she leaned into his cheek. „Let‘s make out,“ she whispered which certainly did a great job at kicking up his heart rate.

„Let‘s not,“ Bellamy murmured, brushing her hair aside. „You‘re drunk. Let‘s get you a cup of water—“

She let out a bratty whine and started pouting. „But I don‘t want water, I want you.“ Her hand came up to poke him, multiple times. „You don‘t wanna make out with your girlfriend?“

Clarke always managed to play the girlfriend-card right.

„Don‘t be such a brat,“ he told her with a smirk.

„Don‘t be such a - such a mean.“

„A mean?“

„Yeah,“ she nodded, making a face. „You‘re so mean.“

„I told you I‘ll take care of you, and I‘m doing that now. Trust me.“

For some reason her features softened at that, eyes getting even glassier than they were already before. She kissed him again.

She was also the one who broke away shortly after, breathless and wide-eyed.

There was a weird shift in the air between them and Bellamy had to swallow. Clearing his throat, he tried to sit up a little straighter. Gods. „Come on,“ he eventually said, nudging her forward. „Water. Kitchen.“

Of course Clarke made an entire scene getting off him and standing up because it was so hard. Overall, Bellamy had noticed that a drunk Clarke was like a three year old child that didn‘t want to listen to its parents. In the end he had to half guide her, his hands steadying her waist as they staggered through the apartment together.

He forced her to drink three glasses of water which she did, albeit grudgingly. And then she ran off into the living room when plain jane came on.

Clarke managed to convince the majority of their friends to go clubbing, but passed out when they started getting ready. Bellamy had to carry her to the car.

After some consideration he drove her to her apartment, figuring that she might need to use the toilet later that night and he didn‘t want to disturb his sister. He didn‘t need long to decide whether he should stay, so he made her drink even more water while he was preparing the bed.

Ultimately Clarke stumbled in, eyes barely open and yet still a big goofy grin on her lips.

„Hey, hey,“ Bellamy said and caught her in his arms as she fell into him.

„Sleep - are we going to sleep now?“

„Yeah, Clarke, you‘re going to bed now.“ He guided her to the bed and sat her down before giving her a pair of pajamas he had found on the arm chair. „Can you change?“ Her head lolled forward. „Clarke,“ Bellamy said. „Come on, take these clothes and put them on. Can you do that?“

She managed something like a nod so he left the room for a moment, getting himself a glass of water in the meanwhile.

“You decent?” he called a few minutes later. The only response he got were a few grumbles that he took as a yes so he came in. Clarke was lying on the bed, in her pajamas, about to nod off. He hurried to her side and struggled a bit to tuck her in, eventually managing to do it, though.

He placed a bottle of water on to her night stand with an Advil next to it before looking at her. “You’re good to sleep?”

“Mmm,” she nodded.

“Okay, good night, Clarke.” Although when he wanted to leave her hand shot out and caught his wrist.

“Stay,” Clarke mumbled and tugged on it. “Please, Bellamy.”

He was kind of frozen to the spot for a moment, not sure what to do. Finally he let out a sigh and climbed on the other side of the bed, not getting under the covers but simply lying down next to her so that she knew she wasn’t alone. “I’m right here,” he told her quietly.

For a few long moments her breath evened out and it looked like she had fallen asleep but then she made a noise and turned around to him. Her hand reached out and clutched at his arm. “Please don’t leave me Bellamy,” she sleepily mumbled, voice muffled by the mattress. “I like you so much.”

Bellamy placed his own hand overs hers and swallowed.

“I won’t.”

-

  
Clarke woke up with a dull throbbing in her head that instantly got worse as soon as her eyes blinked open. So much light. It felt like she was floating on her bed, her mind apparently coping with the hangover or still being drunk. After a minute she managed to move, blinking at nothing in particular. There was a part of her that had expected something — hoped — but she shook it off and focused on not dying. It took her a long time get out of bed and shuffle into the kitchen, but eventually she made it.

There was a note on her counter. _There’s a sandwich in the fridge and a ‘hangover smoothie’, too. Hope you survive the day. Call me if you need anything. Bellamy._

She had to smile.

To be honest there was a big chunk of last night that was missing in her head. She remembered going to Jasper and Monty’s, talking with Raven about her new boo, feeling anxious about Octavia… but then she had been in the kitchen, bringing a cup of rum-cola to her lips and it went black. Like someone had made a cut. There were bits and pieces of course, like a faint memory of falling from the sofa or losing her phone, but the rest of it was missing.

It wasn’t a big deal. Clarke had black outs all the time — not a weekly thing of course, but every time she consumed hard liquor she always had to envisage forgetting all of it, too. So she quietly suffered through the headache, ate the delicious sandwich Bellamy had made for her and texted him a thank you.

Raven and Emori stopped by later in the afternoon, apparently checking if she was still alive. They brought her a frappucino and gossip, though, so she didn’t complain. They settled on her couch and discussed last night’s events — a ritual the three of them had developed over the time.

“You didn’t miss out on anything at Polis, though,” Raven told her. “Only a few lame dudes hit on us, nothing exciting."

Clarke let out laugh as she leaned back into the couch. “I can’t believe I was in the mood for clubbing yesterday.” Clubbing wasn’t her favorite kind of activity on night outs, she much prefer hanging out at the Dropship or at someone’s flat.

“You were not only in the mood for dancing last night,” Emori smirked over the bowl of ice cream.

“Oh yeah, you totally jumped Bellamy last night.”

Clarke almost choked on her drink, coughing a few times before her breathing returned to normal. “What?”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t fuck in front of us,” Raven assured and waved her hand like that was the most important thing. For them it probably was.

Emori nodded but raised her brow, “But did you fuck when you got home?”

“What?! No. No — we didn’t.” She barely remembered getting in the bed, only that she had wanted to sleep for the next twenty years.

“Good, because you were pretty smashed.”

“Bellamy wouldn’t do that,” Raven agreed. “But I bet he, like, took care off you and tucked you in and all that. He did at Jasper’s all night, too.”

“You had to see him carry you downstairs,” Emori said, laughing.

Clarke felt herself blush as she hid her face behind a pillow. „He had to carry me?“ Apparently she had been wrong to assume that last night wasn‘t any more different than the others, clearly it was.

„Well, you certainly couldn‘t walk yourself.“

„You were dead by the time we went to Polis,“ Raven explained.

When Clarke had gotten shitfaced in the past it was usually Raven, Emori — if they weren‘t too drunk themselves — or sometimes Monty who took care of her, brought her home and held her hair in the bathroom. Obviously Bellamy had to take over the role last night… She would probably have to apologize for that later.

Her two friends told her more about her antics from last night like that time she started dancing on the couch to Plain Jane, or the super embarrassing and long voice memo she made for Miller’s boyfriend. And when they finally stopped embarrassing her, they watched the first lord of the rings part before Raven couldn’t stand it anymore and put on some old chick flick movie. It was a cozy night with her two best friends and even though her stomach kept acting up every two hours, Clarke had a relatively good time.

The next two days were busy and uneventful with classes and the term paper that was due next week. Bellamy kept her updated on living with his sister and her boyfriend via texts and phone calls in the evening.

When the paper seemed to be mostly finished — at least 500 words were missing but that was a problem for tomorrow — Clarke decided to give him a surprise visit, seeing as his latest _If I have to see my sister walk out of the bathroom with her boyfriend one morE TIME_ text screamed desperation.

She was right because when the door was opened, Bellamy’s face spread into a surprised, but genuine smile. It was only right to return it.

“Hey,” he said, pulling her inside for a hug. “What are you doing here?”

Clarke poked him into his chest and gave him a grin. “Saving you from more awkward PDA, obviously. You’re welcome.” The suspicious silence in the apartment got her glancing around, though. She knew from Bellamy and from her own experience that Octavia was someone who liked to make her presence heard whether it was bad singing, yelling at whoever was nearest or watching videos on her phone. “Where are they?”

“At the gym,” he told her walking around the bar, to the fridge. “You want something to eat?”

“No, thanks. How - how are they at the gym? They’re only here for another two weeks.”

Bellamy shrugged with a huff. “Don’t ask me.”

“It’s gotta be one of these Octavia-Lincoln-things,” she thought aloud, a hint of awe in her voice. They were a couple that was just meant to be like their love was written in the stars or something, and going to the gym in a city they were only visiting was part of that fate, too.

Bellamy wasn’t that impressed.

“Yeah, infesting my place with their stupid romantic and healthy shit is apparently one of their things, too.”

“So I’ve heard,” Clarke chuckled and propped her chin up on her hands. “Fear not my friend, I’m here to help.”

Raising a brow he leaned closer to her across the counter. “And how exactly are you going to do that?”

“Fight fire with fire.”

It took him a few seconds before understanding dawned across his face. He huffed out a laugh, “Clarke.” She arched her eyebrow in a silent question. “You know that Octavia was the one who told me to make out more with my girlfriend because it seemed strange otherwise, right?”

She hadn’t known that. “Well... wait, really? I thought we were a good, handsy couple.”

“Yeah. I guess I had more incidents in the past… but I don’t think that’s an issue anymore after Friday —“ Clarke felt herself blush at his implication. “Although if you’re talking super gross PDA, then that might work. O’ is a control freak but she won’t like seeing me doing…”

“Doing me,” she finished for him and furrowed her brows. “Just to be clear — we’re not actually going to, uh, you know —“

“No, oh my god, no.” Bellamy’s eyes grew wide as he realized what both of them had semi suggested. “Just some making out. If you’re okay with that of course,” he added with a funny frown. “Are you?”

“Sure, I’m game. I mean I’m the one who suggested it in the first place.”

“Right.”

“Just — platonic making out.”

“Strictly platonic making out,” he nodded, awkward.

Nothing they hadn’t done before, she thought to herself. Raven and Emori’s explicit description of her … drunken actions had made sure that she knew that.

Clarke cleared her throat, trying to ease out the sudden tension that filled the air between them, and got up from the stool. “Come on, I have an idea.”

Bellamy followed her into his own bathroom and kept his adorably puzzled scowl on his face as she started rearranging things.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?”

“We are having shower sex right now,” Clarke explained, managing to keep her face straight and voice steady while spraying some air spray into the room. Then she turned to him and ignored his funny expression, instead assessing which piece of clothing he should lose first. “Take off your shirt.”

This time Bellamy understood. He got out of his navy blue shirt and threw it into the hallway. “We started in my bedroom,” was his explanation this time, and she nodded in approval. His hand tugged at the sleeve of her denim jacket. “Your turn.”

“I guess it is,” she sighed and lost the jacket. “Should we, uh - the pants?”

An answer wasn’t needed as Bellamy kicked off his dark jeans in a couple of swift moments, leaving her no choice but to follow until the two of them were half undressed across from each other. If somebody had told she would be doing this with Bellamy Blake two weeks ago, she would have fallen off a chair laughing, but here they were.

Clarke decided to keep her tank top so that they would stay in an at least somewhat platonic territory. (Although the sight of Bellamy only in boxer briefs made that very hard.)

“So, um,” she said, keeping her eyes on his face. “You know when they’re coming back?” Spending the next few hours half naked in this bathroom would be very awkward otherwise.

“They left some hours ago, shouldn’t be long anymore,” Bellamy told her and went to close the door behind them. “So… should we get in the shower?”

Clarke had sat down on the edge of the bathtub, her brows furrowing as she shot him a bewildered look. “You actually wanna shower?”

“Well, I don’t know about you but I usually get my hair wet when I have sex in the shower.”

“Yeah, but…” Nothing came to her mind, so she closed her mouth and opened it again. “Okay, I see your point.”

Bellamy shot her a satisfied smirk before she watched him step into the shower and adjust the shower head. Clarke was about to point out that all the water would get on the floor with the current angle when they heard voices coming from outside.

“Shit, they’re here,” Bellamy whispered and started the water running as he urged her to get in. The surface was slippery so she held onto Bellamy as she stepped in front of him. “You good?” he asked. Clarke looked up at him, and failed to suppress the giggle that escaped her at this whole situation.

“Sshh. Quiet.” Though his voice was dangerously close to laughter as well as he grinned at her, his hands still steadying her by the arms.

“What are we even doing?” she asked him in a hushed tone, shaking her head.

Bellamy shrugged and suddenly the shower head he was holding was aimed at Clarke, spurting water all over her. She let out a squeak, blindly slapping at his hand to stop him.

“You asshole!”

“Sshh, Clarke. We’re supposed to have sex right now.”

“Right,” she snorted before snatching the shower head and mirroring his actions, but unlike her Bellamy didn’t mind. His curls got wet and plastered to his forehead but it actually looked pretty good and there wasn’t really much that could get wet. Clarke lowered the shower head and swallowed, her throat a little dry. “Um, shouldn’t we make, like, noises?”

His hand wrapped around hers, making her jump a little. “We should,” Bellamy murmured before he adjusted the shower head in its usual position and then forced her to step backwards; pinning her against the wall when she reached the end with an audible shove.

“Like this?” he asked, voice low and hot so close to her face.

Clarke stared, but managed a nod.

His hands wrapped around her arms, pushing them back so that her elbows hit the wall.

“Then what?” she breathed.

“Then -” He lowered his mouth to her neck, his breath ghosting across her skin. “- I would kiss you here, and you would moan, loud.” She did exactly what he had told her to, she moaned. “Next, I would grab your hips and…” He didn’t finish the sentence because she was already making noise again and not long after Bellamy joined in.

If this was all a game, they were pretty good at it.

They continued like that for a certain amount of time — making as much noise as possible without ever really touching. Just for the sake of it Clarke slapped a hand against the wall and yelled out a, “Fuck, Bellamy!” Surely Octavia couldn’t overhear this.

Bellamy was the first one to pull away, Clarke too lost in the act. His breathing was ragged, coming out too irregularly to be considered even, and his gaze was dark and intense. “We… I think that’s enough.”

Clarke blinked, leaning against the wall. Right… that was more than enough to convince his sister he was fucking her in the shower. “Yeah,” she croaked out but waited until Bellamy actually took the few steps and got out of her personal space. “I think your sister got the gist.”

They turned off the water and got out of the bathtub. It was kind of disgusting, really, because she was wearing soaking wet underwear and tank top that were clinging to her skin like cheese on a grill.

“This is so not sexy,” she grumbled, drying herself off with a towel. Why didn’t they just pretend to have normal bedroom sex?

“Well, you can always take your clothes off,” Bellamy suggested with a smirk.

That was easy for him to say since he had a towel around his hips which meant he could lose his underwear. Clarke shot him a glare.

“Here,” he handed her a pink bathrobe that could only be described as sexy. By the stern look he gave her, it belonged to him and she wasn’t allowed give any kind of comment. Before Clarke slipped into it she lost her tank top because it was too wet.

Hand on the doorknob, Bellamy raised a brow. “Ready for round two?”

“So ready, honey.”

They went out side by side, his palm on her back. Octavia‘s eyes lifted from her protein shake when she saw the two of them enter the room. „Could you perhaps, I don‘t know, warn us before we walk in on some live porn?“

„Sorry O‘,“ Bellamy shrugged as he walked past her to the fridge. „But we didn‘t think you‘d be back so soon.“ Octavia‘s eye roll didn‘t impress him either, even encouraged him more. He took a sip of cold water before sliding his arms around Clarke‘s waist from behind and murmuring into her ear, „Right babe?“

„Right,“ she purred back as she turned around and looped her arms around his neck. They met in the middle for an over dramatic, drawn out kiss. It was both funny and exhilarating to play this game, to feel herself open up to him when his tongue licked across her lips, to rake her fingers through his tousled hair and to be pushed against the counter until his whole body was flush against her. Very exhilarating.

„Alright guys, I think me and Lincoln are going out to eat tonight.”

Clarke could feel a grin tug on Bellamy’s mouth that he repressed by tugging her closer and deepening the kiss. They only broke away when Lincoln walked past them to the door.

“Bye guys,” she managed to call after them, slightly out of breath. “Have fun!”

Once the door fell closed, she turned around to Bellamy whose hair was a whole mess, strands sticking out in every direction. _She_ had done that. He let out a snort, and she couldn’t help but giggle, and soon they broke out into loud laughter. Clarke dropped her head on his chest, leaning on him for both support and to hide the embarrassing flush that was covering her face.

“That was… fast.”

“Very,” she agreed with a smirk, “We’re good at gross PDA.” He nodded before his hands left her waist and he stepped back, walking over to the fridge again. Seriously, did this man not have a memory? “Soo, what are your plans now that you’re free of your sister and her boyfriend?”

“Well, I thought about making some curry later and catching up on Killing Eve.” He grabbed a pudding and threw her a glance. “Sound good?”

“Oh, I’m invited?”

“Well, you’ve been my partner in crime today, I think you deserve some Netflix and Chill with me.”

Clarke laughed as she plopped down on his thighs since he was an animal that didn’t bother to make room for her on the couch. “You really need to learn the meaning behind this term.”

They watched the latest episode and discussed how much they adored Villanelle despite her job as assassin and her obvious psychopathic tendencies. Bellamy cooked another delicious meal as she hung around the bar and annoyed him with bad puns. The afternoon grew into a cozy evening and after hours and hours Octavia and Lincoln still weren’t back which was both funny and concerning  — at least to Bellamy.

“They are probably fine, right?”

Clarke rolled her eyes before placing a hand on his knee. “Relax, Bellamy. I bet Octavia is just too afraid to walk in on us fucking on the couch or something. Besides, Lincoln’s a strong man. He can protect her.”

He let out a sigh, “You’re right.”

There was a moment of silence but Clarke was mentally debating whether she should say the thing she wanted to say, or not. What the hell, she thought to herself. “You know, um -” she cleared her throat, reciprocating the curious look he was giving her. “- if you ever get tired of them, you can stay at my place. I mean, I’m mostly at work or in class anyway and when I’m home I just… watch TV shows or study.”

There was a twitch in his brows; surprise but also something else written in his features. Not really knowing what else to say, she just gave him an awkward smile and hoped she didn’t sound too… clingy? Too serious in a relationship that was fake.

“I’ll definitely take you up on that offer,” he said, though, and she felt her chest fall in relief. “Thanks, Clarke.”

“Anytime.”

He fulfilled that promise a few days later.

It had been a slow day at college, her professor going on endless rants about the postmodern importance and Clarke almost falling asleep every five minutes. She had been about to take the nap, that had been nagging at her body for hours, when the doorbell rang and Bellamy stood behind it.

When she let him in he didn’t greet her, just kept going on and on about something Octavia had said or done and taking responsibility and shit like that. Clarke just settled on the couch, wrapped a blanket around herself and listened to another endless rant.

In the end he flopped down across from her and threw his hands in the air. “That’s just plain rude, right?”

“Mmm yeah, your sister giving her boyfriend a massage in the living room? After we almost ate each other’s tongue in front of her last time? So rude. How dare she,” Clarke deadpanned.

He kicked her under the blankets at that — well, _that_ was rude. “Don’t get sarcastic with me, Clarke,” he warned, even though she could see the outlines of a smirk tugging at his lips.

“What? It’s the truth.”

He scoffed and under his breath muttered, “You’re a shitty girlfriend.”

“Hey!” Clarke exclaimed, pointing a finger at him. “I’m a great girlfriend, thank you very much.” A goofy smile tugged at his lips, and she had to tear her eyes away in case her staring got too obvious. Besides, she had wanted to take a nap anyway. Whether Bellamy was here or wasn’t didn’t change anything.

“I’m going to sleep now,” she announced as she cuddled deeper into her blanket, trying to stretch out her legs despite Bellamy’s limbs being in the way. “Don’t wake me up unless you’re dying or the apartment’s burning down.”

“Good night, Clarke.”

It was five in the afternoon, but oh well.

-

She woke up because of noises — more specifically, hushed voices murmuring things somewhere nearly. Not ready to open her eyes yet, Clarke turned her head, releasing a muffled groan. Yeah, voices. For some reason there were voices — plural — in her apartment even though the last thing she remembered was…

Clarke opened her eyes, adjusting to the world around her after a nap that had felt like ten years. Then she sat up and glared into the direction where the noise was coming from.

Raven. Emori. And Bellamy.

Somehow the three of them were sitting around her table, having a tea party. Raven was the first to spot her when she slowly got up and made her way over to them.

“Hey, look who’s awake.”

“Mmm,” she hummed, still groggy from sleep before she came to stand next to Bellamy, giving each of them a long hard stare. Bellamy’s hand landed on her hip and he pulled her a little closer so that he could give her a teasing smirk.

“Rough night, babe?”

Right. Couple. “Rough last five minutes,” she replied and rubbed at her eyes again. “Someone’s voices woke me up.”

“Sorry, babe, blame us,” Raven quipped, way too cheerily for her taste.

“But we’ve got plans to share,” Emori added with a smirk.

“Uh-uh, that’s why you barged in here without texting me first.” Seriously, her friends had to start asking her beforehand. Sighing, she pulled out a chair and sat down.

“We did, but you didn’t answer.”

“That doesn’t count as a yes, Emori,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, why are you here?”

It was Bellamy who spoke though. “Remember the trip to the Hamptons I mentioned?”

“Uh yeah.” Clarke’s brows furrowed because when he had mentioned this trip, it had been more of a warning than a memo. So why he would bring it up now in front of people who were in the belief that they were an actual couple was beyond her.

Raven answered the questions seconds later, “We wanna make it a group thing.”

Her brows shot up.

“We could rent a house for the weekend,” Emori continued, “Spend the days laying in the sun, sipping Mojitos…” Admittedly that did sound like a perfect weekend.

“That is a very good idea, ladies, but we don’t need to rent a house.”

Bellamy looked at her. “We don’t?”

“Nope,” she said with a click of her tongue, “My parents have a house there.”

“Of course they do. Why didn’t I think of that?” Raven muttered to herself. Emori seemed to be more delighted by the news, clapping her hands together.

“Well then, it’s settled. We‘re going to the Hamptons!“

„I still have to ask to get the weekend off,“ Clarke reminded her. „But otherwise yeah. We're going to the Hamptons.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this entire fic is so fluffy I kinda miss angst, but I think there'll still be some mild angst along the way, don't you worry guys! I'll try to update next week again, until then I'd be super happy if you guys told me what you think! <3


	4. Chapter 4

Her boss thankfully allowed her the two free days. They planned their trip on the penultimate weekend before Octavia and Lincoln would leave again, so that they'd still have a week after that. Until then Clarke kept herself busy with school, work, and Bellamy who kept her up on that offer more than she had expected.

Not that she was complaining.

Bellamy‘s mostly subtle, sometimes invasive presence at her apartment was a thing she could get used to. Usually Clarke was a person who always needed some time alone at some point, losing a lot of energy in social interactions, but with Bellamy — he was the one person it didn‘t feel tiring to be with. His running commentary when they were watching Netflix made her laugh. The curious expression on his face when she complained about her essays was comforting. And not to forget all the delicious and healthy meals she got out by him staying over all the time. It was just… nice.

When Friday rolled around she found herself growing more and more excited for the Hamptons. It had been more than two years since she had been there, the last time being a trip with Lexa. And her first ever vacation with the gang consisting of sipping cocktails, being lazy and taking sunbathes sounded more than perfect.

Bellamy picked her up in the morning, Octavia and Lincoln riding in the back. Emori, Murphy, Raven, Jasper and Miller were in the other car. The others sadly couldn’t make it. She rode shotgun, picking out the worst possible songs ever to annoy him because his “If you do not stop playing _sexy back_ immediately I will stop this car” face was hilarious.

After roughly two hours they arrived at one of the Griffin’s beach houses —  they had one more in Miami, along with a cabin in Minnesota but she preferred not to mention that. Clarke picked the room that she had used as a teen herself for Bellamy and her. Maybe it was the nostalgic part of her, or just the amazing view over the beach, but she felt oddly happy to fall back on the white sheets and close her eyes.

“So this is your old room?” Bellamy asked her from somewhere in the room. She guessed that he was standing by the window because that’s where she would be if she wasn’t relaxing right now.

“I was only here once a year, but yeah.”

There was some rustling and Clarke opened her eyes, trying to see what he was doing. Bellamy had picked up something from the drawer on the right side of the room. She frowned.

“What's that?”

“Looks like an empty sketchbook,” he replied, not looking up. Before she could piece it together, he turned a page and huffed out a half impressed smile. “Hey, that’s good. Did you draw this?” Clarke had jumped from the bed by then, grabbing the sketchbook.

It was a picture of Lexa while she was taking a nap on the beach.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, turning to the other pages. “I must have forgotten it here last time.” There were other, older sketches: the sea, her grandma’s dog Bowie, more drawings of Lexa, Wells… “I never even realized I was missing it,” she murmured.

“These are really good though,” Bellamy softly said and she looked up at him to see him give her a small smile.

“Thanks.” Clarke bit her lip, suddenly feeling a wave of inspiration hitting. “There’s still some blank pages. Maybe I’ll fill them up.”

Waving a hand over his face, Bellamy walked backwards out of the room. “Well, if you ever need a pretty face, I’m all yours.”

“Please, then I would ask Raven or Emori.” He laughed as he turned around. “Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m hungry.”

She could relate. Downstairs they made some mozzarella salad with pasta and discussed their plans for that evening —  plans besides drinking, anyway. Emori suggested to take a walk on the beach, enjoy the sunset before it got dark outside and Clarke quickly jumped on the idea. The Hamptons really provided a great sunset view. There was some protesting from Jasper and Miller because walking was so boring, but at least Bellamy thought it was cool, too.

And it _was_ mesmerizing, the whole sky looking like it was being swallowed by a reddish blanket.

“This is so freaking beautiful,” Octavia sighed in awe and tugged her boyfriend in for a couple of selfies. Although they probably looked good in them, Clarke thought a decent picture would look much better.

“Come on, I’ll take some pictures,” she said, already taking out her phone.

“Really? You’re the best!”

It took Octavia literal seconds to transform from a squealing three year old to a super model leaning against her boyfriend. She looked amazing. She also convinced Lincoln to take more romantic pictures, and he leaned down for a kiss with a smile.

“I hate this,” she heard Bellamy grumble next to her and she couldn’t suppress her own grin. “This is all your fault.”

“Hey, I’m being a good friend.”

Clarke took a dozen pictures of their super romantic kiss with a gigantic sunset behind them before giving the pair a thumbs up and promising to send them later.

But that wasn’t the end of it, Emori wanted pictures too, much to Murphy’s dismay. Still, he put an arm around his girlfriend, his smile rather creepy but nonetheless cute, and even agreed to take the same kissing pictures. Raven groaned behind her, complaining that her new boo was still too new for this kind of trip but that she was lowkey wishing he was here right now. Yeah, relationship problems.

When she was done with Emori and Murphy’s pictures, Octavia gestured at her with a bright grin.

“What?” Clarke asked, not sure what she was getting at.

Octavia rolled her eyes and waved her over. “Come on, you and Bellamy. Every other couple did it, too.”

Laughing nervously Clarke took a look at Bellamy who didn’t seem too opposed to the idea.

“Come on, babe,” he said with a sigh and pulled her in front of the phones Octavia, Emori and even Raven had already pulled out.

“You know, one phone would be enough,” she huffed as she leaned her head back on Bellamy’s chest. To be honest, she wasn’t really sure what to do, how to look, but so far nobody had pointed out that they looked fake so she figured it wasn’t too bad. And Bellamy had wrapped his arms around her so that was kind of romantic, she guessed.

Emori shushed her while Octavia dropped to the weirdest positions to take the pictures. “Come on, guys, do something cute,” she ordered at some point.

“Yeah, Bellamy, do something cute,” Clarke parroted, looking up at him from the side with a grin that he returned.

He sighed dramatically, but the smile on his face never faltered when he murmured, “If I have to” before leaning in. He waited longer than he should have to close the distance, probably giving her the opportunity to back out, but Clarke had never been one to miss a chance at… this. She brought up a hand when his lips came down on hers, shy and sweet, nothing compared to their make out session to scare off Octavia. But it still… left her whole body tingly after they pulled away after several moments. His sister seemed to be satisfied with the pictures and it was all great, but she couldn’t help but notice the strange sensation.

When she was looking at the pictures afterwards on the walk back, she had to snort involuntarily.

Bellamy bumped her shoulder, raising a brow. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just -” she shrugged. “- look at this. It’s so beautiful, the sunset and the sea, and then there’s us.”

“Are you implying we aren't beautiful?”

“No, we are hot,” she said and laughed. “But these are so useless. I can’t post them because, you know, couple. And I can’t show them to my kids someday either.”

“I mean, you could,” he shrugged. “You could just say, _here I am platonically kissing my friend Bellamy Blake_.”

Clarke snorted. “Yeah, great idea.”

Bellamy seemed to be content with himself as he jogged up to Murphy and Miller because they wanted to know his opinion on skinny dipping. But Clarke‘s eyes remained at one of the photos. It wasn‘t one where they were kissing, instead one seconds before that. They were both looking at each other and smiling, and Clarke looked so ridiculously happy that it made her uncomfortable.

Pretending to be in love with Bellamy had been easy since day one, and a part of her wondered if it was too easy.

-

„It‘s basically truth or dare, but instead of dare the other option is shot.“

Clarke raised a brow as she watched Raven set up shot glasses at the table. „Aren‘t we a little to old to be playing the alcoholic version of truth or dare?“

„There‘s no such thing as too old for drinking games,“ Jasper scoffed and eagerly poured himself a shot of Bacardi.

They were all gathered around the table in the living room. After the walk on the beach they had ordered a huge family pizza and eventually decided that it was time for the main event of the night: drinking. Raven had proposed truth or shot so here they were.

Bellamy elbowed her lightly, and wiggled his brows with a teasing grin. „Aww, is someone afraid of answering the good questions?“

Clarke sent him narrow eyed glare, raising her chin. „Is someone afraid of having too many shots?“

„Well, not me. I‘m not a lightweight.“

„Yeah, we‘ll see about that at the end of the night.“

„Aww,“ Jasper interrupted them with a wide, open mouthed grin. „Their bickering doesn‘t even stop as a couple.“

Clarke rolled her eyes.

„To be honest that sounded like some kind of passive aggressive foreplay,“ Emori noted dryly.

Jasper raised his index finger. „But still cute.“

„Okay you weirdos -" Clarke was grateful that everyone‘s attention turned to Raven, so that no one could see the faint blush creeping up her neck. „- the actual goal _is_ to ask the most uncomfortable questions.So yeah Bellamy, Clarke _should_ be scared and so should anyone else around this table.“

„I thought this was supposed to be fun,“ Octavia huffed, an unimpressed scowl on her temple.

„It is. Uncomfortable question equals more shots -"

„- equals more drinking,“ Jasper finished in a singing voice.

Yeah, that would be fun.

It started fairly innocent, nobody drunk enough yet to ask the good questions. After several rounds of _when is the last time you had sex, your worst hookup, your most embarrassing event_ and other basic questions, it was Raven‘s turn though and she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. That girl was out for blood.

„Clarke,“ she said, giving her a look. „Based on your experiences, who is the best sexual partner you‘ve had so far?“

There were a lot of groans around the table, especially Octavia who buried her face in her additional glass of wine.

„This is unfair,“ Emori protested. „Of course she‘s gonna say Bellamy, he‘s right here.“

Raven smirked, though. „Well, I personally know that Lexa was pretty hot stuff in bed, sooo…“

„We can always make him put his hands over his head,“ Jasper suggested and Miller agreed.

„Yeah, Blake, disappear for second.“

Clarke grabbed the glass before anyone could say anything else. „Or I just take the shot -"

And that made the room truly explode.

„You did not just say that!“

„No way!“

„Is it that bad?!“

„Wait, you did have sex, right?“ Murphy asked.

„Or, my girlfriend just wants to get drunk,“ Bellamy tried to shout over the loud murmuring in the room, putting a protective arm around Clarke. She really appreciated it, appreciated him in that moment.

„That, definitely that.“ Clarke gave a strong nod for emphasis before taking the shot. „Me wanting to be drunk doesn‘t mean Bellamy isn‘t -  isn‘t good,“ she added and slapped her hand against the table.

„Because I am.“ The smirk on his face was easy and unbothered, and Clarke was grateful that at least one of them was so chill about it.

They let it go, not without a lot more teasing from their end but Clarke took what she could get. A few other touchy questions followed, not directed at her, though. Like “What’s the worst mistake of your life?” to Murphy. No one was surprised that he took the shot, but no one really knew what mistake he was shotting for either because he had made a lot of those. Then Octavia’s question regarding “Raven’s dark month three years ago” that was probably referring to the time after Finn had cheated on both of them. Raven refrained from answering.

Jasper was already hammered by the time he got to his fifth or sixth question. To be honest everyone kind of was, even Bellamy and he was rarely drunk drunk.

“Bellamy,” he slurred and pointed a wobbly finger at him. “This ‘s an easy one. How hard did you crush on Clarke the first time you met ‘er and she told you off?”

Bellamy shifted next to her and his ears turned pink. It was understandable. Everyone around that table thought they were together, so admitting it was only logical, but. It would also, somehow mean that he — _no_ , she stopped herself. All of this is an act. If he says yes, it‘s only because they have to keep up the charade.

„A little I guess,“ Bellamy answered with a shrug. Clarke noticed the way Octavia’s smile grew, her eyes a little glassy with alcohol and fondness. „I mean, she's my girlfriend now.“ Clarke smiled and interlaced their fingers when his eyes flickered over to her.

„He‘s into pissed off blondes,“ she joked and managed to get a laugh out of her friends.

Murphy snickered before leaning back and shooting them a look. „No, I think he was just into you.“

„Probably both,“ Miller agreed with a huff.

The game didn‘t last for long any more, most of them tired and sloppy drunk, so they called it quits and each pair disappeared into their own rooms. Clarke had to repress a snort when she thought about Raven, Jasper and Miller sharing one. At the end of the night both men men would be probably murdered, Jasper for being an annoying, loud drunk and Miller for snoring.

Clarke was kind of glad she was with Bellamy because he was neither annoying nor difficult to share the bed with. He did snore a little but in that case she always pretended it was the sound of waves crashing against the shore. It worked like magic.

„You okay?“ Bellamy asked in their room. He was struggling to get off his shirt off and it looked really funny. Clarke hurried to his help, tugging at the sleeves.

„Sure. Why wouldn‘t I be?“

He shrugged and gave her a nod when the shirt came off. „Dunno. You‘ve been kind of quiet during the game,“ he said, now shirtless. Clarke pointedly kept her eyes on his face, and not on his broad shoulder or his chest or his freaking abs. Seriously how could he be this ripped? Did he even work out?

„And you didn‘t drink much today.“

Blinking, he tore her attention back to what he was saying. „What?“

„I said you didn‘t drink much today.“

Clarke snorted. „And that‘s why I‘m not okay?“

„Well,“ he said. „You do drink a lot.“

Huffing, she shoved his shoulder playfully. Maybe she did have two or three glasses wine every evening combined with half a bottle of captain morgan now and then, but pointing it out was just plain rude.

„No, I‘m fine, you asshole,“ she said and flopped down on their king size bed. „I‘m just… tired, that‘s all.“

Bellamy lay down next to her, propping up his face on one hand. „If you say so, princess.“

For a moment they just looked at each other, Clarke sleepy and quiet, and Bellamy almost expectant. With a huff she realized that he was probably waiting for her to elaborate, even though there truly wasn‘t anything wrong.

And yet Clarke still opened her mouth, asking him something that she'd been wanting to ask since… since the beginning.

„Why did you ask _me_ to be your fake girlfriend?“

He blinked at her in surprise. “Well… uh, most of our friends are already in relationships. Raven had a crush on that dude, so I couldn’t ask her, and you -”

“I was single,” Clarke said for him with an impatient nod. Then she noticed her mistake, furrowing her brows, and corrected herself, “I am single.”

“Yeah,” Bellamy said, his voice rough.

“But why - you could've walked up to any girl in the Dropship and ask her to pretend to be your girlfriend for a month. It would've worked, you’re fucking -” She took a breath and bit her lip. “- you,” she finished lamely.

His right brow arched on his temple and he shot her an amused glance. “I’m me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, Bellamy,” she murmured, rolling her eyes. “You’re attractive, like stupidly insane attractive. You, me and everyone else in this house knows that.”

Shifting, he sat up so that he was looking down at her. Even from her position she could see the smug grin playing on his lips — also unfairly attractive.

“Well, thanks, Clarke, although you do manage to make it sound like an insult somehow.”

“You know me.”

“But about the other thing… I don’t know. I didn’t want some stranger, it was supposed to be someone Octavia would like, and someone I liked, too. You know, a month is long.”

“I always thought you didn’t like me,” she blurted out. A moment of silence passed and she glanced at him, watching his mouth press into a line and his hand come up to rub the back of his neck. Was he nervous? “You always seemed so… annoyed by me. So when you asked me, I was really surprised.”

“Why’d you say yes then?”

Now it was her turn to swallow. Looking away, she bit her lip and thought about the best possible way to phrase her words without sounding pathetic. “I, um… I thought it could be fun. A fake relationship always sounds fun in movies or tv shows, right?” She didn’t wait for his opinion before going on. “And I guess part of me wanted you to like me, so it was a cool opportunity.”

“To like you?” Bellamy echoed next to her sounding a little breathless. Her gaze darted to him, and she frowned.

“Yeah. I always kind of admired you — after our initial meeting, obviously. You’re a good friend, smart, nerdy, and you have a really morbid sense of humor that I dig. But you totally blew me off all the time, and it was frustrating.”

The look on his face would have been hilarious, if it wasn’t so confusing at the same time. He looked like someone had slapped him with a book a couple of times. After a weirdly long, stretched out silence, he cleared his throat and made a face, “Well… is it a cool experience to be fake in love?”

“Oh my god,” Clarke gasped and basically jumped up, jabbing a finger into his direction. “You’re doing it again, you’re blowing me off!”

“What -”

“I just told you how… how cool I thought you were, and all you say is if it’s a cool experience? Do you - do you still hate me or something?”

“No, oh my god, no,” it shot out of him and her chest sighed in relief at his frantic reaction. At least something. “It’s not that - jesus as if I could hate you, Clarke?”

“Well, you can’t even tell me you like me, so.” She threw her hands in the air and looked away.

“I like you just fine.” Before he could retort anything, Bellamy reached out and grasped her hands, tugging her towards him until she was standing between his thighs. “I don’t hate you. I never did.”

Clarke tilted her head, absently playing with his fingers. “Then why are such a dick?”

“Because I -” She swayed a little forward, waiting expectantly. “- I’m uncomfortable talking about my feelings.”

“Big news,” Clarke snorted. “So am I, but I still told you.”

He pulled her even closer, his hands landing on her waist. “I like you, Clarke Griffin, and I never hated you —  except when you insulted my favorite book. So you've accomplished your goal, we're friends now.”

The look of pure honesty on his face sent something forbidden run down her spine, something she couldn’t place. But it also made her break out in wide smile and lean down to throw her arms around his neck. It was a strange position, she was standing and he was sitting, but when his arms came around her, she felt safe and happy and that was what mattered.

„Thank you,“ she murmured into his shoulder before pulling away. „That wasn‘t so hard, was it?“

„Nope.“

-

  
Spending the whole day simmering in the sun at the beach was balm for her soul. They had found a relatively quiet, hidden place where they could lie around, play Jasper‘s music and relax.

The boys went off to play around in the water which left her, Raven and Emori alone for some quality girl talk.

„Ugh, I hate this,“ Raven groaned and punched the sand in frustration. „I don‘t like these feelings at all. Why is this happening to me? I‘m Raven Reyes, I don‘t -" She halted her rant to shoot both of the other girls a glare. „Why are you laughing?“

„It‘s feelings, Raven,“ Emori said, laughing. „Not STD that you caught.“

„It is inconvenient when I‘m on vacation with my friends and all I think about is him, and his stupid grin and his stupid, killer abs and — oh my god. His abs are so good.“ She let her head fall into her hands with a hitch pitched sound.

In that moment Miller came back from the water, giving Raven an odd look. „What‘s wrong with her?“

„She‘s having a breakdown over Zeke‘s abs,“ Clarke replied, grinning.

„Who‘s Zeke?“

„Her new boyfriend,“ Emori provided.

Raven lifted her finger „He‘s not my boyfriend. We haven‘t had the what-are-we-talk yet.“

Clarke‘s smirk widened at that. „I wonder why. You two been too busy?“

„Hell yeah.“

„Now that I think about it me and Murphy never had the talk either,“ Emori said, a little frown tugging on her brows. „We just… were.“

Raven turned to her. „Did you and Bellamy?“

„Um yeah.“ She grabbed one of the beers, twisting it around in her hands. „We sort of talked about it.“

„And decided not to tell us. I‘m still salty about that by the way.“

„Sorry, Raven.“

„Uh-uh.“ Raven‘s mildly over dramatic glare turned into a more serious expression as she bit her lip. „Sorry about all the questions, but how did you guys know? I just… after Finn, and after Wick, I feel like I‘ve lost the ability to choose the right men.“

Emori scratched her chin and seemed to think about it, while Clarke was getting another few gulps of her beer, pretending to be thirsty instead of anxious about answering that question. How did she know that she was in love with someone she pretended to be in love with? Good question.

„Seriously it‘s cliche but it was that love at first sight moment,“ her other friend eventually decided. „It wasn‘t love love obviously, but I heard his stupid ass remark in that class, and I just knew I wanted to know him.“

The fact that Emori and John had met in an anti aggression class was both impressive and hilarious to Clarke, but they were just that kind of couple. Maybe Murphy getting into fistfight with some of his old friends and Emori kicking a dude‘s ass who had grabbed her without permission was fate too.

And then both of them turned to Clarke and she knew it was her turn to elaborate. She cleared her throat. „At first it was this new and kind of weird thing because we were friends before, but over time it just… it just felt right, you know? Like it was always supposed to be that way. I‘m not sure if I‘ve had your moment, Emori, because it was more falling for him over time and one day you wake up and know that this is it, your person. I mean there are still insecurities and it‘s still new but you just know. This person is your home.“

After she finished there was a long silence which made her cast anxious glances to her friends. But instead of finding them laughing or not buying it as she expected, Clarke saw Raven give her a soft smile and Emori awww into her hand.

„You‘re such a goner,“ Raven said, shaking her head. „But I think I‘m too.“

Emori placed a hand on her shoulder. „We‘re happy for you, Reyes.“

„Yeah,“ Clarke agreed, but her smile was strained. „You deserve to be happy.“ _You‘re such a goner._ Her heart clenched tightly in her chest and she wasn‘t really sure why. Maybe because it was all a lie and in merely a week she would fake break up with her fake boyfriend, maybe because then she would be alone again even though she sort of had gotten used to be in a relationship again, or maybe because she had gotten used to _him._

She swallowed and tried to push the thought away when she noticed Miller giving her an odd look. He stared for a second longer before looking away. Clarke did the same thing but couldn‘t help but feel caught, like he had known what was going through her head.

Thankfully Bellamy and the others chose to come back from the sea in that moment. Of course Bellamy made a show of shaking his hair above her back, making her wet in the process. It was both a cold surprise and yet nice in the blasting sun.

„You‘re a jerk,“ Clarke told him with a grin, sitting up. „But please do that again.“

Bellamy offered her his hand instead. „Or you can go with us into the water.“

„But I don‘t -"

„No protesting,“ he cut her off. „You‘re coming with us. All of you,“ he added and turned to the other girls who didn‘t look all too unhappy about it. It left Clarke no choice but to give in with a dramatic sigh. Bellamy’s hands that helped her up made it a little easier, though.

“C’mon babe,” Bellamy murmured barely audibly into her ear as he guided her forward, hands on her back. “It’ll be fun.”

Clarke giggled when he brushed a sensitive spot above her hips. “I’ll believe you this time.”

“Only this time?”

“Only this time,” she nodded and stopped when they reached the water, wanting to test out the temperature at first. Big mistake as it turned out because Bellamy grabbed her from behind and spinned her into the water, Clarke going down for a second. After coming up again, laughing and coughing, she tried to smack him but he was faster.

“I was about to go in!”

“I just sped up the process,” Bellamy said with a smirk and dodged another one of her punches. Clarke shook her head and rolled her eyes but then dove into water again because it was actually pretty warm once you were inside.

Next to them she saw Octavia try to climb Lincoln’s shoulders and Emori and Murphy indulging in a water fight with Jasper and Raven. It didn’t take long until Clarke and Bellamy joined in. Bellamy went for Murphy and Raven, while Clarke struggled with a heavy Jasper clinging on her neck and trying to drown her. In the end, though, she managed to shake him off with Bellamy’s help and they shared a victorious high five while Murphy wrapped his arms around Emori’s waist even though they had totally lost. When they shared a kiss moments later, it only felt natural to loop her own arms around Bellamy’s neck with a wide grin curling around her mouth and to return the kiss he pressed against his lips.

It didn’t matter that nobody was looking at them right now, that there was no one to play this act for. Maybe it had never mattered in the first place.

-  
“What?”!

Miller didn’t blink when Bellamy shot him a half annoyed glare because he had been staring at him with one of those looks for the last five minutes. “Nothing,” he said nonchalantly instead and shrugged. “Just -- have I already told you that I’m happy for you?”

Bellamy’s brows furrowed into a credulous scowl. “No, but I also don’t want you to if you continue to look this sappy.”

“I’m serious, Blake. Clarke and you -” he shook his head before leaning against the railing of the balcony and looking at the beach in the distance. “It’s a good thing you two have. She’s good for you and she, I think she really loves you. And she makes you happy. It’s been a long time since I saw you like that.”

So much about no sappy shit. “Thanks, I guess.” Bellamy considered his next question carefully before looking at Miller and raising a brow. “But why this topic now?”

“She just said some things about you today,” Miller told him. “And I realized I haven’t told you that it’s a good thing and that you shouldn’t fuck it up.” Bellamy snorted and received a clap on his shoulder from him. “Although you managed to get the girl that you crushed on really hard, so I guess you did something right.”

Miller went back inside where the others were cooking dinner right now, but Bellamy leaned against the railing and frowned, asking himself why the fuck everyone kept saying he had a crush on Clarke. It wasn’t even logical considering that they had a huge fight the first time they saw each other. And afterwards they managed to not rip each other’s heads off, but it wasn’t ground for a healthy crush, was it? Even Clarke told him that she thought he had fucking hated her, which was not true at all though. Obviously He had still managed to piss her off on a daily basis, messing up her perfect curls or talking shit about her favorite fancy drinks. And it was always so fun to see her get all pissed and annoyed, especially when she rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. It had always been a love-hate relationship between them… although now that he thought about it, Bellamy sometimes liked her too much for a friend or a acquaintance. Maybe… maybe Miller and the others were right, and all this time Bellamy had lived in denial. The question was, what it meant now.

Bellamy was fake dating the person he lowkey liked, kissing, hugging or cuddling her on a regular basis, and he didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry about this fact.

When he came into their room later he found her dancing on the bed to _Pocket full of sunshine_. Her back was to him and the wild moves she pulled suggested that she wasn‘t aware of his presence. So like every gentleman would Bellamy cleared his throat to let her know he was there, (not before enjoying the adorable view for a few selfish seconds, though). 

Clarke spinned around, but didn‘t stop dancing. Instead her face split into a wide grin as she hopped to the edge of the bed and offered him her hands.

He raised a brow.

„Come on, dance with me,“ she said, taking it into her own hands and just grabbing and pulling him on the bed.

„I don‘t dance.“

„Me neither, but fuck that.“ The refrain came on and she leapt into a dramatic pose as she sang along. „ _Take me away; a secret place; a sweet escape, take me awaaaay!_ Just dance, Bellamy, it‘s our last night here!“

He had to smile despite himself and moved a little so that he wouldn‘t be a complete killjoy. Of course Clarke's dancing was much more enthusiastic, but in the end she looked pretty content with both of them.

When the song came to an end she plopped down on the bed, her breath coming out in pants.

„You okay?“ he wanted to know, sitting down next to her.

Clarke nodded. „No one ever tells you how much energy dancing requires. No wonder all those chicks at Polis are so skinny.“

„Among other things,“ he agreed.

„But it was fun. I‘m feeling fun today.“

„I noticed.“

Bellamy watched her fall back and turn her head to look at him, a small smile gracing her features. It was stupid but his heart made a little jump at that. „Thank you for dancing with me, Bellamy.“

Returning the smile she was giving him, he replied, „Everything for my girlfriend.“ It was a joke of course, and yet there was an underlying truth in those words. He would do anything for her if she asked.

Sitting there with her after a dance session, listening to the sound of waves hitting the shore, he came to the conclusion that he was happy about the fact. Even if she didn‘t feel the same.

-

On their last evening they had a barbecue, kicked back a few glasses of wine and hung out in the living room together. Truth be told Clarke was a little sad, she didn‘t want to leave yet and return to morning classes and shifts at the clinic. Sure, she‘d still see her friends every other day but it wasn‘t the same as this. Vacations were always something special.

Part of her knew that it wasn‘t only about the vacation and her friends, but about Octavia and Lincoln‘s time here coming to an end and thus hers and Bellamy‘s as well. But she liked to ignore that part.

So when it got late and everyone decided to hit the sheets, she wasn‘t quite ready to let go of the two days of happiness yet.

„What are you doing?“ Bellamy inquired while she was rummaging through her closet.

„You‘ll see.“ A small yelp escaped her when she spotted a blue box hidden under several pairs of shorts. „Gotcha,“ she said, getting it out and opening it to find exactly what she was looking for.

Bellamy huffed out a laugh. „Is that weed?“

„Yeah, I remembered I still had a secret sash hidden somewhere.“

„Nice,“ he said with an impressed nod.

„So,“ she hummed and raised a questioning brow, „What do you say? You, me, a bottle of wine and some weed?“

“I say that sounds like a plan.”

He went to grab the wine while Clarke rolled the joint which frankly wasn’t her best work since she was out of practice, but had to be enough for tonight. Twenty minutes later they were sitting in front of the window, glasses of wine on each side and the joint in her hand.

She took a hit, held it in her lungs for a couple of seconds and then released it with a small cough. It always took her a while to get used to it. She passed it to Bellamy.

They went on like that three rounds before Clarke started to feel the effect, a pleasant, giddy feeling settling in her bones.

“You know,” she started randomly after Bellamy accepted the joint, “I used to do this with Lexa, too. We cuddled up on the balcony, smoked and watched the stars and shit like that.”

“That must’ve been nice,” he commented before taking a drag.

Nodding, she let out a sigh. “It was.”

There was a minute of silence as Clarke took one last hit and stubbed the nub in the ashtray. 

“Why did you two break up?” he eventually asked.

“She got a job in another city and she didn’t tell me, even after accepting it. I had to find out from her room mate.”

“Shit, sorry. That sucks.”

“It did,” she agreed with a humorless laugh. “I would’ve agreed to a long distance relationship — hell I’d have probably come with her, too, but -” She shrugged. “- then I realized it wasn’t worth it.”

“Yeah, there’s gotta be effort from both sides, otherwise the relationship is doomed to fail.”

“Exactly.” After a gulp of wine she turned to him, eyes narrowed. “Did you ever get your heart broken?”

It was obvious that the question took him by surprise, but it turned into reflection pretty quick. “Um, I actually don’t think I did.”

“Lucky you,” Clarke huffed. “I thought Finn had hurt, but then Lexa showed me it can hurt even worse.”

“Wait. Finn?”

“Yeah.”

“Finn Collins?” Bellamy repeated, making her frown at his bewilderment.

“Yeah, Bellamy, that dude.”

Shaking his head, he raised his glass and took a few strong sips of wine. “So you’re the other girl from the fiasco with Raven and him?”

“Duh,” she replied. “Is that news to you?”

“Yeah. Raven never told us the name of the girl.”

“Oh.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Well, now you know. They were together, I had no idea, started dating him and then Raven showed up and we both got our heart broken.” Even though it had been years ago, the memories still never failed to make her heart clench for a moment. So she mirrored Bellamy and took a strong sip. “But hey, at least I got Raven out of it. In hindsight, one of the best worst decisions of my life.”

Bellamy’s mouth curled into a smile and he let out a laugh. “I didn’t think I could possibly hate that dude more than I already do, but I do.”

“I’m glad I could help with that.”

“But I’m sorry that happened to you. You deserve better than that,” he told her, voice gentle and Clarke bit her lip, something in her stirring at this words.

“I do, but I still miss them sometimes,” she admitted. “It’s not that I forgot what they did, I just know there were times when we were happy, because it wasn’t all bad, you know?”

“Obviously.”

“Yeah, I miss the good times. The intimacy, the affection, that you have someone who listens to you and just loves you… I miss that.” Somewhere during that sentence Clarke realized something. All those things she mentioned? She had them in the last few weeks, she had them with Bellamy and maybe it wasn’t so much about missing right now, but about going to miss in the future when their fake relationship would come to an end.

_Damn._

Bellamy’s voice snapped her back to the moment when he slowly said, “I get it. Things were never one hundred percent right with Roma or Gina, but there were still good moments. It’s natural to miss the memory, doesn’t mean you miss the person.”

“Uh, yeah,” Clarke croaked out, still a little shaken by her realization.

Perhaps Bellamy noticed that since he gave her a careful look, brows raised. “Hey, you okay?”

“Uh-uh,” she said, although she picked up her glass and finished it in one go seconds after. The alcohol warmed her chest and she felt immediately better though. “I agree with what you say. I don’t miss them them, I miss the memories.”

“I’m sure you’ll find… someone who loves you and treats you the way you deserve to be treated.”

Fuck, what he was saying right now didn’t really help with what she was feeling, so Clarke desperately tried to stir the conversation somewhere else.

“It’s okay, I mean because I knew Raven, I moved here, and then I met you guys.”

“Then you met us,” Bellamy repeated with a soft smile, nodding. “You’re right.”

“And now look at me. I have a job, amazing friends and you -” Her hand waved over him. “I got to know you…”

Fuck, this wasn’t working. It didn’t matter what she said or did, everything eventually led to —

“Clarke,” Bellamy said. His voice sounded serious, still warm and gentle like every time he was talking to her, but serious. And somehow that made her scared. And excited. And breathless, so that her whole air came out in a whoosh when they looked at each other.

By now Clarke was pretty drunk and stoned, and judging by Bellamy’s glassy look and lopsided smile when she said something, he was too. So when he said, “Clarke, I….” and trailed off, it just felt like one of those make it or break it moments.

And fuck, Clarke decided to make it.

She leaned forward, nearly closing the distance between them but stopping right in front of him, his lips only inches away. It was a silent question that was answered when he let out a breath and gave her the smallest of nods before they both moved forward and met in the middle. It was soft, and sweet, and genuine, nothing like most of the kisses they had shared before.

They pulled away after a moment but remained close so that their foreheads were touching. Clarke swallowed, trying to control the unimaginable push inside her, but could only wait so long. Her hands came to rest on the side of his face as they kissed, hungrier, more urgent, then they tangled into his hair. She let out a whimper into his mouth when he pulled her onto his lap with his hands on her ass, knocking over her glass in the process.

“Fuck,” she whispered between kisses and straddling him. He felt so good — his hands dragging against her body, his tongue swirling against hers, the puffy breaths he released every now and then. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “I need you, Bellamy,” Clarke told him as he pressed a kiss against her neck. “I want you.”

“Yeah?”

“Please.”

“Let’s get you out of these then,” he murmured, his voice demanding and rough in all the right ways. She raised her hands so that Bellamy could get her out of her shirt. After throwing it behind him his lips found a spot above her breasts as his fingers fiddled with the clasp of her bra. “That okay?”

Clarke couldn’t help but giggle that he still asked even though she wanted him more than anything else in her life right now. “Yeah, Bell. Just get it off please.”

With a smirk he unhooked her bra and didn’t waste any time. His lips closed around one nipple while his hand was massaging the other, twirling his fingers around it, and causing her to arch her back right into him. “Mmm, oh my god.” Clarke let out a loud moan which made him pull back.

“You gotta be quiet, babe,” he murmured and placed a kiss between her breasts. “Our friends are in the rooms next to us.”

Somewhere inside she knew that he was right, but that part was clouded by his tongue swirling around her nipple. She couldn’t care less. “Let them hear I don’t care,” she gasped. “Just fuck me already.”

Bellamy let out a growl before he ripped up her skirt and wiggled down her panties. It left her almost bare on his lap even though he was still fully dressed which wasn’t fair at all. “At least take your shirt off,” she whined and made an attempt at getting him out of it with shaky hands. He helped her hurriedly and then his hand landed on her cunt, his thumb rubbing her clit.

Clarke gasped and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his as he kept rubbing her clit in fast, little strokes. It was amazing, but she wanted to feel more, so she desperately grabbed at his hands.

“You want a finger?”

“I want a finger,” she nodded, huffing out a puff of breath and lifting her hips for him. He teased her entrance with his index finger and then pushed it inside. His pace was slow at first before it picked up, pumping in and out while his thumb kept getting rubs on her clit.

“More,” Clarke whispered. “Another finger, Bell.”

He obeyed without hesitation, giving her another finger and then croaking them inside her. And that hit a spot, a fucking amazing spot that made her let out a shocked moan as she rocked down on his fingers like it was his cock. Bellamy was focused on getting her off, but she couldn’t help but press a wet kiss against his lips, gasp into his mouth.

“Fuck, gonna come, Bell. Gonna come.”

“Then come,” he murmured. Clarke felt him grind his fingers into her one last time before the coil in her belly exploded and she came with Bellamy swallowing her moans and fingering her through the orgasm.

Once she came down from her high, Clarke became painfully aware of the bulge in Bellamy’s pants. “Now can you please get this off and fuck me for real,” she said, already working on his belt.

“Fuck, it’s so hot when you say that.”

“What? That you should fuck me?” she asked, lifting her hips so that he could tug down his shorts. He nodded at that. Clarke smirked and leaned forward until she was only inches apart from his lips. “I want you to fuck me,” she whispered, batting her eyelashes.

It worked wonders.

Bellamy crashed his lips on her in a bruising kissing as his hands slid up and down her body. Then he grabbed her ass and picked her up in a swift motion. Clarke instinctively wrapped her legs around his torso and he walked them over to the bed before gently laying her down in the middle. Standing in front of it, he made a little show of getting out of his boxer briefs. And well, Raven had been right when she said that he had a huge dick.

Clarke got out condoms from the drawer of her nightstands that she had kept there since she had been sixteen and then finally tugged down her skirt entirely. She met Bellamy in a kiss when he climbed on the bed. His hands came up to her face and for a moment it was just needy and nothing more, but then she felt his length stroke her and she had to suppress a groan. Wrapping her hand around him, she started stroking, eliciting a low groan from him.

“You’re big,” she told him, her lips brushing against the skin on his jaw.

Bellamy laughed, so she picked up the pace and it turned into a moan. “So I’ve been told.”

“I, um, was only with one guy before so I’ll have to work up to it.”

For some reason he saw that as a reason to stop. “Clarke, we don’t have to -”

“No, oh my god, no. I want this,” she said, furrowing her brows. “I want this. Just slow, okay?”

“Of course,” ho nodded before capturing her chin and bringing her up for a gentle kiss that left her breathless and excited. Yeah, she wanted this.

She opened the condom, rolled it over his length and climbed onto his lap, positioning herself over him. The tip of it teased her entrance, but she didn’t sink fully down yet. Instead she rubbed her folds against him until she couldn't take it anymore and slowly sank down on him. They both moaned in unison when he filled her, pressing their sweaty foreheads together.

“Fuck, um,” she whispered, still getting used to being completely filled up.

“Good?” he asked, his hands trailing up and down her sides.

Clarke nodded. When she felt comfortable enough, she raised her hips a little before sinking down again. Yeah, fuck that was more than good. She repeated the motion, picking up the pace until she was riding him. His hands grabbed her tits in the meanwhile, kneading them whenever it worked.

The combination of it all felt fucking perfect, so that she started to feel her orgasm building again. Clarke whimpered and tried to change her movement to get there, wiggling her hips experimentally when Bellamy stilled her and gave her a look.

“Let me,” he said.

Swallowing, she nodded and stopped moving, only holding on to his neck. Bellamy’s hand started circling her clit and then his hips snapped up into her, causing her to release a high pitched sound. “God, oh my god,” she gasped. “This. Exactly this, Bell.”

He kept up the movements, speeding up a little and soon Clarke couldn’t help but help along, she sank down when he snapped up and in resulted in a series of delicious moves where he was grinding right into her. His thumb rubbing her clit picked up the pace as well and not long after that her orgasm ripped through like a force of nature.

Clarke buried her face in his neck when she came, her walls spasming around him as he kept snapping into her. Then her legs nearly got limp so Bellamy rolled them around, raised her legs to his shoulders and fucked into her. It didn’t take long before she felt him come too, rolling off and plopping down next to her with a sigh.

“This was…”

“Yeah,” he murmured and yawned.

She stared at the ceiling, still a little out of breath. They just had sex. Her and Bellamy. She had slept with the guy who was her fake boyfriend.

“Why did we do this?” she asked with a gulp and turned her head. And it wasn’t a rhetorical question, she was genuinely interested in the reasons that led to this. Was it just the alcohol and the weed? A random heat of the moment thing? Or was it something else, something more profound than that, something that had been building for weeks now?

Bellamy didn’t get the memo though. “Guess we went on the full ride of the fake relationship thing.”

She blinked and sat up. This was a mistake. A huge, universal mistake. “I can’t do this,” she said, shaking her head and scrambling out of bed. Her damn clothes were scattered all over the place.

“Hey, woah, Clarke,” she heard him say behind her as she picked up her skirt. “What just happened? What are you doing?”

“I have to go.”

“Where?! This is your beach house.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just - I need some air to breathe, alright?” Finally she spotted her top under the armchair and went to put it on. “We made a mistake here.”

“Clarke, just minutes ago you said that you wanted this,” Bellamy reminded her and she spun around. He looked confused and annoyed and somehow sad, and it made her sad too. Fuck. “What the hell happened?”

“We slept together and it was stupid, that’s what happened.”

“I… Let’s talk about this,” he tried again, standing up but she pushed herself past him to the door. He caught her wrist. “Don’t leave.”

“I -” she sighed, swallowing. “I can’t stay right now.” Then she opened the door and fled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I didn't know this chapter was going to be such a monster, sorry!  
> 2\. We're almost at the ending guys!  
> 3\. Ummmm prepare for a bit of angst & more mature scenes :)   
> 4\. Tell me what you thought?? I love reading your comments, they always make my day <3 Or talk to me on tumblr @Iseeyoou or twitter @clarkeagriffin  
> 5\. The last chapter might take a little longer because this bitch right here has yet to write most of it, but I will try to hurry up. Until then send me good writing vibes <3


	5. Chapter 5

In hindsight storming out of the house in the middle of the night may have not been Clarke’s smartest decision. It was cold, the waves crashing against the shore seemed to carry the wind even better than usual and once she had run so far that the beach house had shrunk into a tiny, flickering dot in the distance, she also realized that it was scary as hell.

She took a glance around her surroundings, her eyes flicking over the row of houses and mansions coated in darkness before flopping down in the sand. For an unknown amount of time she just sat there and let grains of sand slip through her fingers, nothing more. She didn’t even think. It happened sometimes, that her mind went through such a turmoil that it eventually shut off and dissociated. Right now she was grateful for it.

Clarke only snapped out of it when two random pedestrians passed by on the street and she looked down at herself, realizing how stupid she must look sitting in the sand all alone. Finally everything that happened crashed over her.

Bellamy and her had slept with each other. Then he made a stupid joke, that was probably all it was: a  _joke_ and she freaked. She ran away and now she was here.

“You’re so damn stupid,” she muttered to herself, scrubbing a hand across her face. Why did she have to make everything so dramatic? Why couldn’t she just stay there next to him, talk about what happened and then see what happened next? But there was just something that had hit a nerve when he said it was all part of the act. _Something_. A part of her knew what that something was. To be completely honest it was stupid to pretend otherwise since they had literally slept with each other.

So yeah, the truth was that she liked him.

Somewhere over the course of their fake relationship Clarke had fallen for him and depending on how Bellamy was feeling about her, it could become a problem. There was clearly the fact that he had slept with her which could suggest that he might return the feelings, but then again it was _Bellamy_ she was talking about. The same Bellamy that had used to leave the Dropship with a different girl every Friday night. The same Bellamy whose only two relationships ended because of this very reason: he wasn’t into relationships. It was the whole reason why she was in this situation right now in the first place. Bellamy had preferred to get a fake girlfriend instead of letting his sister set him up with someone. So the question remained. Why the hell should she assume that Bellamy saw her as anything more than a heat of the moment fuck?

Sighing, she finally stood up and started on her way back. Her stomach twisted into painful knots at the thought of facing Bellamy and the conversation they would have but she forced herself to carry on.

Fifteen minutes later she entered the dark living room through the back yard. A look at the clock revealed that it was a little past four in the morning. So much about going to sleep early because of their early departure. Clarke quietly crept up the stairs and then stopped in front of their room, her heart about to jump out of her chest as her hand wrapped around the door knob.

When she went in Bellamy immediately turned around from where he was sitting on the bed and jumped up. “Clarke,” he said.

“Um hi.” She forced out a tight lipped smile.

“I looked everywhere for you. Where the hell - or what the hell were you doing?”

Still frozen against the door, she swallowed and avoided his worried gaze. A part of her was happy that he seemed to care so much but she told herself to stay strong. “I told you I needed time to think.”

“Well, thank you for the heads up. I thought some serial killer had grabbed you,” Bellamy snapped before scrubbing a hand across his face and shaking his head with a tired sigh. “I’m sorry. I was just, uh, really worried.”

“I’m sorry too. I should have at least texted but I forgot my phone here.”

He gave her a nod of understanding as a heavy silence settled over them. The pleasantries were all good and nice but they still hadn’t addressed the elephant in the room and what elephant it was. Eventually he cleared his throat and looked at her. “So. What conclusion did you come to?”

“Conclusion?” she asked, playing a little dumb.

“Come on, Clarke. We -” His hand waved over them. “- sleep with each other and then you bolt ‘cause you need time to think. What now?”

His bluntness made her nervous all over again, all the courage she had worked up leaving her at once. She dropped her face in her right hand and closed her eyes for a moment. “Can we talk about this sometime else? I’m tired.”

Bellamy looked like he wanted to say something, maybe protest and tell her how unfair that was but in the end he just nodded. Clarke went outside on the balcony and grabbed her phone to see that there were about twenty missed calls from him. Her heart clenched tightly inside her chest but she shook it off and slipped back into their room without another word.

Neither of them said anything as they lied down in bed, each on their respective side. The air between them was still loaded with tension and unsaid words, so that sleep didn’t come easy at all even though she was more than exhausted. Somewhere around the time the sun started rising, she did fall asleep but it was with a bitter taste in her mouth — and it was not from the bottle of wine.

-

If last night had already been bad, the morning after was the epitome of terrible days. Clarke not only woke up to a throbbing headache but also to an empty spot beside her and a flood of embarrassing memories. It took her twenty minutes and a lot of encouraging self-talk to get up, brush her teeth and make her way down stairs.

Most of her friends were already awake, chatting quietly over coffee and eggs in the kitchen including Bellamy. Although his mood was noticeably worse compared to the others’. Grumbling out a good morning Clarke headed for the coffee machine and ignored everyone’s curious stare as she waited for the liquid to fill the cup.

It was only when she sat down with her coffee and a freshly made toast that someone finally dared to comment on it.

“Damn, what the hell happened to you two last night?” It was Raven and she was looking between her and Bellamy.

“Oh my god, please don’t answer,” Octavia said before they had a chance to respond, “I don’t wanna know.”

A burning blush crept up her cheeks at the implication because they weren’t wrong for once — they did have sex last night. They were just wrong about everything after. Hiding her face behind the cup she muttered out a quiet, “we just overdid the wine.” After all, they still had to keep up the act in front of their friends, no matter how much it hurt right now.

Clarke managed to blend out the hours after that, somehow just nodding along to every decision and keeping quiet. They packed up their staff, loaded the cars and hit the road back home. The whole time she barely exchanged two words with Bellamy aside from a few _yeah_ s and _okay_ s. Even in the car with Octavia and Lincoln, she leaned against the window and pretended she was asleep instead of participating in the conversation. She just hoped they would write it off as her being hungover and miss the obvious strain in their relationship.

When he dropped her off in front of her apartment complex, Bellamy leaned in and gave her a brief parting peck after getting her bag out of the trunk. She had expected it, they always greeted like that during their fake relationship, but she wasn‘t prepared for the tears that welled up in her eyes. It was kind of stupid and very embarrassing, so she hastily said her goodbyes and then rushed off into her building, hoping that he somehow hadn‘t seen.

That night — after a long shower cry, changing into the coziest sweaters and a can of Ben and Jerrys — she got a call from Bellamy. For a moment she considered declining, eventually though she picked up with a sigh. „Hey.“

„Hey,“ he said, „I wanted to know if I could come over. There‘s so much stuff we have to talk about.“

„I know we do but… not tonight.“ She swallowed and added, „or please can we just postpone it until after your sister flies back to Richmond?“

„Clarke, I -“

„Please, Bellamy.“ Her words sounded like pleads now and she hated it, hated how she was treating him right now, hated how much things had changed in the span of twenty four hours. „We will, uh, talk about it eventually, just not now. I don‘t want to screw things up between you and Octavia, so I‘ll show up when I have to but… I need some space.“

She heard him sigh on the other end of the line and she squeezed her eyes shut at the sound. Clarke hated it.

„Yeah, okay,“ he said.

„Thank you, Bellamy.“

„It’s fine. Get some rest.“

  
-

She spent the next few days burying herself in work and her course material. Everything but thinking about the mess that were her feelings and what would happen when this week came to an end.

Clarke had to tell him how he felt if she didn‘t want to live the next few months wallowing in misery and pining over someone she had fake dated for a month. Of course, doing the first thing didn‘t immediately mean the outcome wouldn‘t be the same. But that was exactly why she tried to avoid thinking about it.

Bellamy didn‘t stop by her apartment or invited her over for movie night — not surprising since she had asked him for space two days prior, but his absence was still a hard thing to bear. Especially after seeing him almost every day for the last three weeks. Raven and Emori checked in on her through texts and phone calls, asked if everything was alright, but she managed to convince them she was just busy.

It was only on her fourth day of post realization that Octavia and Lincoln invited everyone to dinner. A goodbye dinner of some sort since they were leaving that saturday.

Clarke probably stood an hour in front of her mirror and argued with herself. A part of her wanted to ditch and avoid having to act like everything was easy squeezy. Another part wanted to go, wanted to see Bellamy again and get to kiss and cuddle into him for what might very well be her last time. And then there was that crackhead side of her that just wanted to get stupid drunk and face everything through a bolder, sassier and more put together version of herself. It was definitely the most stupid idea and probably the most realistic one as well.

In the end she went, albeit somewhat late.

Bellamy was the one to open the door and she gave him a timid smile before pushing past him. There wasn‘t any audience so a kiss wasn‘t necessary. „Sorry I‘m late,“ Clarke said as she shrugged off her jacket. „I had an assignment to finish.“

„Don‘t worry about it.“ When she wanted to greet the others he caught her wrist though, his eyes finding hers. „Clarke, there‘s something I have to tell you.“

„Please, can we do this another time? I told you -“

„Clarke, hey!“ Octavia swept in and cut off their conversation, throwing her arms around her. It was the first time that Clarke felt happy to talk to this Blake sibling, instead of the other. „How are you? Bellamy told me you‘ve been busy with classes.“

„Oh, yeah,“ she nodded as she followed the girl into the dining room. „Finals are coming up soon and I really have to ace them this time.“

„Well, make tonight an exception cause we‘re celebrating. Come on, sit down. Lincoln and I have some news to share.“

Slowly but surely everyone else gathered around the table. Clarke had to admit that she was a little curious to hear the news, a part of her nervous for Bellamy‘s sake that they were about to announce their engagement or perhaps a pregnancy. Then again that would probably make him stop sending her those looks across the table that she kept avoiding.

She perked her ears when Octavia cleared her throat and shared a wide toothy smile with everyone. „So as I said we‘ve got some news to share with you. And no, Jasper, we are not expecting a child.“ A herd of laughter went through the table, „but I‘m happy to announce that you‘ll be seeing more of us soon. Lincoln and I are moving back to Brooklyn!“

Clarke almost choked on her champagner. Her ears started ringing while everyone was congratulating the pair and being excited for them; she only forced out a smile when Octavia looked over to her. Then her eyes travelled over to Bellamy who held her gaze, the muscle in his jaw twitching as they looked at each other.

 _Fuck_. He had known about this.

His expression shifted into a smile when his sister punched his shoulder, rambling on about finding an apartment close by.

The excitement continued, everyone bursting with joy that they would get to see Octavia back in the group full time. Clarke couldn‘t relate, or at least not until she knew what that meant for her, so she excused herself after a few minutes and went to the bathroom.

Not long after Bellamy followed.

„Hey, you okay?“ he asked her in all seriousness like the whole past thirty minutes didn‘t just happen, like his sister, in front of who he pretended to have a girlfriend, didn‘t just tell them she was moving back here.

Clarke spinned around, hands clenched into angry fists. „You knew about this and you didn‘t bother to tell me?“

„Hear me out first, Clarke.“

She didn‘t. „Did you -“ She sucked in a breath and stared him down. “Is that why you slept with me? So that you could pretend to date me for a while longer?“

„What?“ His voice sounded so hurt by the accusation that the rest of her words died on her lips. „I found out after we came back from the Hamptons,“ Bellamy explained before shooting her a frown of betrayal, „is that what you think of me? That I would sleep with you to use you?“

„I don‘t know. Why didn‘t you tell me then?“

„Well, how could I when you don’t answer my texts or calls and say you don’t wanna see me,“ he snapped all of a sudden. Clarke‘s brows drew together into a scowl and she bit down on her teeth.

„That was because I thought you wanted to talk about that night! I would‘ve liked to know about this, Bellamy.“

„You can‘t just cut me out whenever you feel like it.“

She knew he was right, it was a shitty and unfair thing to do, and yet. „I needed time to think.“

„So did I!“ he whisper-yelled at her, „but you never asked me what I needed!“

Clarke opened her mouth to retort, but suddenly Murphy appeared around the corner, a sly grin on his face. „Trouble in paradise?“

“Shut up, Murphy,” both of them said at the same time and for once Clarke didn’t feel any excitement that they thought alike. She just shook her head and went back to the others, trying to not look like someone just punched in her guts.

-

It felt like his sister’s goodbye-and-announcement party dragged on for hours after the fight with Clarke and it didn’t help that they still had to act normal in front of the others. Having his hand on her thigh or an arm around her shoulders was usually something he liked doing — he liked touching her, of course he did. But now it just felt forced and strange. And then there was Murphy who kept sending them strange glances every time they talked.

Bellamy almost yelped in relief when Raven announced that she had to head home which resulted in their other friends leaving as well, Clarke included.

It went without saying that he would drive her home, so he accompanied everyone to their cars before getting into his own car with Clarke. He didn’t start it, though.

“Can we please finally talk?” he said after sitting there with her in tension loaded silence.

Clarke looked at him and swallowed. “About the night, or about the fact that your sister — the reason we’re pretending to be a couple — will move up here?”

“These topics are intersectional, Clarke.”

She blinked and then sighed, moving her gaze away again. “Fine. Let’s talk.”

“Why did you run away?”

It didn’t take eagle eyes to see how uncomfortable it seemed to make her, how she was putting up her walls right now.

“Come on, we’re adults. We can talk about this,” he said to her, “we slept together and then you just… ran away.”

“I got scared,” she admitted quietly.

“Of…?”

She shrugged like it was a question on a math test. “Everything, I guess? What we did, it made things complicated.”

Bellamy swallowed thickly, dreading the words he was about to say. “So you think it was a mistake?” Because to him it wasn’t. It didn’t feel wrong to kiss her, to touch and worship her body and feel her quiver against her. And back in the moment he believed this feeling was mutual. But now… now she was acting different, distant. Maybe that was all it was to her, a mistake.

Her answer surprised him. “It depends.”

“Depends on what?” he wanted to know, brows furrowed.

Clarke bit her lip and looked back at her hands. She was nervous.

“On how you feel about what we did. Be honest Bellamy, was it just sex? Or was it…” Her gaze lifted then and she looked him in the eye as she finished her question, “... more than that?”

It was now or never and Bellamy Blake wasn’t a coward — most of the times anyway.

“It was more than that,” he admitted, holding her gaze. Her reaction was subtle, merely a small sigh and a nod, so he couldn’t read it. “So. Were you right to be scared?”

Clarke shook her head. “No.”

For a moment he lost what exactly her reply meant, whether it was good or bad, but then she leaned forward and touched his cheek.

“I was scared that it was just sex to you because for me it wasn’t. It couldn’t be,” she murmured and offered him a small smile that he returned, raising his own hand to rest it on her face and pull her closer.

They kissed.

It wasn’t their first kiss, not even their first real kiss, but in the end it still felt special. When she pulled away, he huffed out a genuine laugh while tucking a strand behind her ear.

“So where does that leave us? We’re in a fake relationship for my sister’s sake and have feelings for each other.”

Clarke seemed to be distracted though, her eyes flicking to his lips over and over. “Sorry, can we think about this later? I just really wanna kiss you again.”

Bellamy laughed, but ended up kissing her anyways. It turned into twenty minutes of making out, with her in his lap, panting and gasping into his mouth while grinding against him.

Somewhere along Clarke rested her hands on his cheeks and dropped her forehead against his.

“I think your question from earlier was really important.”

Bellamy let his head drop against the seat, groaning. “That’s not fair. First you distract me and then you stop in the middle.”

She offered him a smile that he would describe as apologetic before kissing the corner of his mouth. “I’m sorry,” Clarke murmured against his skin, “but kissing you, really kissing you felt to good after all this time.”

“After all this time, huh?”

Shrugging, she looked at their intertwined hands. “I mean, I don’t think I just started having feelings for you because we had sex.” Bellamy pretended to be offended, so she added, “although that was a huge contributing factor.”

“No, I know. I think I stopped pretending to be in love with you a while ago.”

“So… all the things you said, in front of your sister and our friends, they - they were true?”

“Eventually, yeah.” He nodded.

„Me too,“ Clarke sighed against him, „but I didn‘t want to admit it to myself in case… it was just me who felt like that. And when we had sex, it got real so fast, that I got scared.“ She leaned back a little to look him in the eye. „I‘m sorry, Bell. For running away and cutting you out like that. That wasn‘t fair.“

 “You’re forgiven,” he jokingly said, brushing his hand across her shoulder. “I’m sorry for getting mad earlier.“

„Don‘t. You‘re human, not a robot.“

He made a face, but nodded. „So we‘re good?“

Her lips quirked up into a grin. „We‘re more than good.“ She proved that with another kiss. Hopefully Clarke would do that more often in the future.

After the kiss she let out a sigh though. “So what now?”

“Now? Now I would like to really go home with you and -“ He waved a hand between them. “- and finish what we started.”

“There’s nothing more I would rather do, but I have a super early shift tomorrow. And I know that with you there, I wouldn’t manage to get up.”

Even though the three year old child in him wanted her to call in sick or quit altogether so that they could spend the next ten years in bed, the grown up inside him nodded and took her hands. She had her life and it couldn’t stop just because of him. No matter how much he wanted to.

“Rain check on that then?”

“Yeah,” Clarke said before leaning forward and planting a kiss on his mouth. “We’ll see each other tomorrow though? I’ll come along to the airport.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed.

After that (and another five minutes of kissing) Bellamy drove her home and then back to his own apartment. When he opened the door he saw his sister on the couch, wine glass in one hand and legs spread on the coffee table. He had assumed she would be already asleep by now, but sat down next to her nonetheless.

“Hey,” he said and looked at his little sister with a smile.

Octavia returned the smile, raising the glass of wine to her mouth. “Hey.”

“So, you’re really moving back here, huh?”

“I’m really doing it,” she affirmed before shaking her head, “no. _We_ are doing it. Lincoln and me.”

A long time ago this would have irritated him — the fact that his baby sister is no longer part of his we but part of her own little partnership with Lincoln. It still did in some ways, but instead of acting on it he accepted it. She was a young, adult woman who was able to make her own choices, just like this one.

“I’m happy for you, O’.” He patted her shoulder. “That you’ll come back here. And that you have someone like Lincoln on your side. He really does love you.”

“Thank you, big brother. I’m happy for you too,” she said, but raised a questioning eyebrow, “but is everything okay again with you? You seem less pissed off than two hours ago.”

Bellamy put on a fake frown, trying to act at least somewhat oblivious. “What do you mean?”

His sister wasn’t stupid, of course; she rolled her eyes. “You and Clarke, Bell. It looked like you were fighting earlier.”

“Uh, yeah, we’re totally fine,” he told her with a wave of the hand, “it was just a stupid fight. Really.”

Octavia looked at him for longer than necessary until she finally seemed to believe him. Her gaze finally left him and moved to the tv where an episode of big bang theory was running. Horrible show.

“Well then.” There was a moment of eerie silence before she spoke again, “You know. When you told me that you had a girlfriend, I thought you were lying.”  
Bellamy almost choked on his spit. His sister went on without missing a beat. “And then I came here and I saw Clarke and I still believed you were lying. A whole lot of effort, I’ve come to notice by now.” His heart rate kicked up a notch when she looked him in the eye. “I’m sorry I had doubts, Bell. You’re my brother, I shouldn’t have believed you’d be able to lie to me like that. That’s not the point anyway because I’ve spent time with you two. I’ve seen you two and what you have is real and beautiful. I’m so happy that you found someone.”

It felt somewhat wrong to laugh, crack a joke or act like this was all a silly, funny story because in the end she was right. Bellamy was lying to Octavia - had been lying to her the whole time. It didn’t feel right to come out with the truth either. He wasn’t alone in this, it concerned Clarke as well and he didn’t want to go behind her back like that. So he continued lying.

“I - I get it. Kinda. I didn’t even tell you her name.”

“No, you didn’t and I hated you for it,” she said.

“But that’s because you were always trying to stuff your nose in my love life. If I had told you you probably would’ve messaged her on facebook and interrogated her there.”

Octavia pulled a semi apologetic face and shrugged. “I just want the best for you.”

“I know but… not like this, O’.”

“Fine,” she gave in with a sigh, shaking her head as if he was asking her to kill a man, “next time I’ll be nice.” Her eyes narrowed and she sent him a glance. “Will there be a next time, though?”

“Octavia…”

“I know, I know I’m being noisy again, but seriously, Bell. Do you think she’s the one?”

“We’ve only been together for… seven months now. There’s so much that can still happen,” he said, not really knowing what exactly he was heading for himself. “But if you’re asking me, if I want it to be forever… then yeah. I love her, O’.”

Finally, she gave him that one smile that told him he had said something right.

“Good.”

“You happy now? Done with drilling me?” Bellamy half-joked.

“Yes, I am,” Octavia proudly said, standing up, “and now I can go to bed without worrying about you. Good night, Bell.”

He watched her saunter towards the guest room, frown on his face. “Worry about what?!” Octavia didn’t answer, though. Bellamy left it at that.

-

Clarke didn’t expect to be so affected by Octavia and Lincoln’s departure and yet, there she was almost tearing up at the airport. Bellamy was far worse off obviously, but it helped that his sister would return in less than three months. So they said their goodbyes, hugged and eventually got into Bellamy’s car to drive home.

And that’s where the real fun began.

It felt almost awkward to sit there with him and pull out of the airport’s garage while Ariana Grande was playing on the radio. So weird that Clarke couldn’t help but break it with a chuckle.

Bellamy sent her a raised brow from his seat. “What?”

“Nothing. I just... “ She shrugged, grinning, “Your sister left and we are…”

“In love?”

He was bolder than she was, but Clarke didn’t mind; she nodded slowly. “Yeah. We were supposed to end this thing as soon as Octavia left.”

“And then she decided to actually move back here.”

“And we fell in love along the way,” she added.

“Yeah, crazy when you think about it.”

“Uh-uh. We broke the only rule, we had.” In hindsight not making any more rules than ‘don’t fall in love with each other’ might have changed the entire thing. So she was grateful that they hadn’t. Despite how complicated their situation was right now, she wouldn’t change a thing.

“We didn’t have more rules?” Bellamy asked. “Not even a no sex rule or something like that?”

Clarke snorted. “If we had, we would’ve broken it, too.”

“Right,” he remembered.

“Fuck the rules anyway. It was part of our fake relationship and this isn’t one anymore, right?”

“No, it’s not. I want to be your real boyfriend. If that’s what you want.”

“I want that,” Clarke blurted out way too fast, “and I want to be your girlfriend. Real girlfriend. No pretending.”

“Good, then we’re on the same page.”

“The thing is that to everyone else we are already in a relationship. And I don’t think a lie is a good foundation for a new relationship.”

“So we tell them,” said Bellamy. It surprised her how easy he said that.

Clarke raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Octavia, too?”

And there was the hesitation that she had anticipated. She didn’t blame him. What they had created here wasn’t a small lie and seeing how opinionated Bellamy’s sister was, it could easily ca a fight. If Clarke was honest, it wasn’t the best first impression for her as a girlfriend either. But that was only the smaller concern.

“I don’t know,” Bellamy admitted, staring at the road, “she’ll be super pissed.”

“Yes.”

“But one day the truth will come out, especially if we tell our friends.”

It was a valid point.

“You’re right,” Clarke said, “and it’s better if she hears it from you and not… drunk Jasper or something like that.”

“Yeah. I - I will tell her, but not now. When she’s fully back and we have everything figured out.”

Clarke wanted to ask what he meant by everything figured out because to her everything _was_ figured out but she stayed silent. Maybe it wasn’t that important anyway.

-

The first person to find out the whole truth would be Raven. Clarke texted her if she wanted to have brunch with her. So they met at Olmsted, ordered omelette sandwiches and talked a while about the job offer Raven got from some fancy company before Clarke gathered the courage to approach the topic she actually summoned her for.

“So… there’s something I have to tell you.”

Raven halted mid chewing and raised a brow. “That sounds serious.” When Clarke didn’t say anything else, just stared at her while chewing on her lips like crazy, Raven huffed out an impatient breath, “geez, Griffin, you know how to scare a girl. Spill.”

“Okay, so you know how Bellamy and me are -”

“Oh my god, did you two break up?”

“No, no, we’re fine. I mean not the way you think we are but fine.”

“Okay, I’m confused,” Raven said.

That was fair since she wasn’t really making any sense right now.

“Um… my relationship with Bellamy was fake.”

Raven blinked.

“An act. He was tired of Octavia playing matchmaker so he asked me to play his fake girlfriend.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah,” she hummed, “the thing is though that over time we actually started having feelings for each other so now we, um, are actually in a relationship.”

Raven’s hand flew up as she gave her the most puzzled look ever. “Let me get this straight. You pretended to be Bellamy’s girlfriend because of Octavia but now you’re not pretending anymore?”

“Sounds about right.”

“Okay,” was all Raven sad. Her expression didn’t reveal anything either so the moment stretched into a long silence.

Eventually Clarke couldn’t bear it anymore. “Are you mad?”

“No, or I don’t think so. I’m just very shocked right now.”

“I get that. Do you need some time?”

“Clarke,” Raven huffed, exasperation in her voice, “you told me about your mess of a love life, not that you murdered my boyfriend.”

She knew that, she did, but part of her still couldn’t help but feel guilty for lying to her all this time. Mustering up a smile, she stretched out her hand on the table. “Thanks for understanding.”

“Hey, I still have a bone to pick with you miss. I thought I already did when you didn’t tell me about your supposed secret relationship, but now it’s because of your secret fake relationship that turned into a secret real one.”

“Not a secret anymore. We’re gonna tell the others as well,” Clarke corrected with a raised index finger.

“Even Octavia?”

She made a face. “Give us time.”

-

Over the weeks they casually dropped the truth bombs on their other friends, not all at once but one by one. The reactions varied from “what the actual fuck” to a casual shrug from Murphy who insisted he had already figured out, to a lot of confusion about who the actual winner of the betting pool on Bellarke was. (Monty by the way, he had bet on the right week of the right month somehow.) Eventually though the overall confusion cleared and their relationship became a running gag among their group  — much to Bellamy’s dismay. Clarke found it funny.

At the same time they tried figuring out how this new, real relationship was going to work. Their first date was a typical dinner and movie one, but it took a surprising turn when they sneaked out of it to make out in the car without any disturbance. They didn’t wait for the third date to sleep with each other (again). In fact, they didn’t even wait to get to her or his apartment.

If Clarke had to be completely honest their lives didn’t change that much. Bellamy still came by her place as often as he could where they curled up on the couch and watched Netflix or where she watched him cook something delicious in her otherwise unused kitchen. She still slept over at his apartment, just without shying away from cuddling into his chest at night. Even in front of their friends they behaved almost the same only without the pressure to act a certain way. Everything was pretty much the same except that it was real and Clarke felt happier than she did in months.

So maybe she was a tiny bit scared that the bubble they were currently living in was going to burst once they were forced to tell Octavia the truth. Clarke didn’t want to be too hung up on the thought. Although Bellamy still noticed on the night before his sister’s official house moving to Brooklyn.

“What’s wrong?”

Clarke tore her gaze away from the TV screen to glance at her boyfriend’s concerned face. “What? Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

“I’ve been listening to you thinking for the entire movie now.” His hand softly stroked down the length of her arm — a gesture that she had come to love. “Come on, you can tell me if there’s something bothering you.”

“I know, it’s just… stupid.”

“It’s not stupid if it bothers you,” he said and she had to smile. He was always so supportive and mindful of her.

“Octavia is coming back tomorrow which means we’ll have to tell her the truth. Someday soon.”

“So?”

Clarke’s brows furrowed as she looked at him. “Aren’t you worried she’ll be mad. Angry. Pissed?”

Bellamy let out a small sigh and shifted on the couch, brushing a hand across his face. “I'm sure she won’t be too happy about it, but I don’t see the point in worrying about something we can’t control anyway. Either she’ll take it like everyone else did, or not.”

“But -” She shook her head, finding it difficult to explain her precise issue. “It’s about the relationship to your sister, Bell. Aka the most important person in your life. And I guess that I’m afraid that if you guys get into a fight over this, you’ll think that this - that _we_ aren’t worth it.”

“Clarke -”

“I know, I know. Told you it’s stupid.”

“Clarke,” Bellamy repeated, voice louder and yet ever so gentle when he spoke her name. He took her face into his hands and forced her to look him in the eye. “You’re worth it. We are worth it. I love you, okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered, nodding.

“And I don’t think something like this could ruin my entire relationship with my sister. She’s a handful, but even Octavia will have to get over my lie and be happy for me.”

Clarke smiled because he was right. Overthinking had always been one of her flaws, she just felt safer if she calculated every possible outcome in advance. But sometimes, like right now, it did the opposite of helping. Octavia was a grown up. Surely she had told some pretty big lies throughout her own life, right?

-

It didn’t go as bad, but neither as well as everyone had hoped.

As soon as Bellamy was done with explaining their fake-relationship-turned-real-relationship she saw Octavia’s grin shift into a hard frown. A loaded silence followed the confession.

“Octavia?” Bellamy asked after a while. Clarke squeezed his hand under the table, hoping that it would help a little.

She blinked a few times before directing her gaze on her brother. “So you’re saying it's my fault that you felt the need to arrange a fake girlfriend?!”

“Well, not - not your - O’ you kept pestering me about my love life. You even arranged a blind date for me once without me knowing about it. What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, maybe ask me to stop?”

“I did!”

“Then you should’ve asked harder,” she snapped, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this. This whole time I thought you were together. You treated me like a fool!”

“I’m sorry,” Clarke said which was a big mistake apparently because it made the fury of Octavia Blake land on her.

“I talked with you about your so called relationship. How could you lie to someone’s face like that?”

“O’-”

“No, Bell. You’re not any better either! I told you that I actually suspected it was fake and you still didn’t feel the need to tell me the truth?”

“We were figuring things out back then,” he explained, “and it wasn’t just my decision to make.”

“Well, how good for you -”

“Hey, I thought you wanted him to be happy with someone?” Clarke finally snapped. Instead of an answer Octavia bit down on her teeth, glaring at her. “What? Just because it was you who didn’t find him a girlfriend, you’re suddenly not happy anymore?”

“It’s about the lying part, not about… who found who,” she bit back.

“And we are sorry that we lied to you. It wasn’t right. I’m sorry, O’but what else can we do?”

Suddenly it looked like Octavia deflated in front of them, the anger disappearing, only leaving behind fatigue and even something that looked like shame. “I’m sorry that I pushed too hard,” she finally mumbled. “And I am happy for you two, Bell.”

“Thank you.”

The siblings looked at each other for a long while before Octavia cleared her throat and got up from the table. Clarke could see that there was still tension in the air, especially on her part. She seemed bothered by the fact that they lied to her. But Clarke hoped that she would understand someday, why her brother felt the need to lie.

The month that she spent with Octavia hadn't been all too long and it obviously didn’t make her the Nr. 1 connoisseur. What she did get out of that time though, is that the girl often pushed too heart to get to the goal. That included driving Bellamy insane with her matchmaking efforts. She wasn’t a bad person of course, she just had to learn to give people their space.

“I should get going,” Octavia said after picking up her bag and phone, “there’s so much to do at the apartment.” They didn’t manage to get a place in the same block as Bellamy, but it wasn’t far away either, a ten minute walk max.

Bellamy nodded and stood up to accompany her to the door while Clarke remained seated. She called out her goodbyes, but figured giving them a moment on their own was the best option. He came back after a few minutes, a tired smile on his face.

“Hey,” she said, reaching out a hand to pull him towards her. “All good?”

“Not entirely, but we’ll get there.”

She nodded and stood up to give him a long, tender kiss, her fingers curling into his hair. After she pulled away, Bellamy quirked up a brow. “What was that for?”

“I suddenly feel lighter. Like a weight has lifted off my chest, you know?”

“A weight lifted off your chest?” he parroted in a teasing voice as his arms landed on her waist and pulled her closer.

“Yeah! Why are you laughing?”

“My girlfriend’s just being funny. So dramatic.”

“What, you aren’t relieved that you finally told her?”

“I am. I also know that I’ll have to hear about this for the next ten years.”

Clarke gulped looking up at him. “And?” He frowned. “Are we worth it?”

Bellamy huffed out a laugh, even though she was being serious, before giving her the most affectionate smile and tucking her hair behind her ear. “ _We are worth every. single. stupid. comment._ ”

Her heart might have skipped a beat at his words. She felt like she was back in the car on that day when they told each other about their feelings. Although this time she didn’t have to hesitate.

Clarke pulled him down for another, more hungrier kiss. A smile fought its way onto her face along the way. She kept smiling as he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him, she kept smiling as he walked them to his bedroom where he laid her down and kissed her neck, and she kept smiling while he was whispering sweet nothing into her skin.

Afterwards they lied in each other's arms and Clarke silently thanked whoever was up there for leading her right here, right into Bellamy Blake's arms. Because even though they started off pretending, the feelings now couldn't have felt any more _real._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone remind me to NEVER post an unfinished pic again. 
> 
> God I feel like I say this every time I finish a longer multi chapter fic but writing block got me sooo hard. At the end I always get either unmotivated or have new ideas for other fics and then life also gets in the way and boom you post the final chapter of your fic 10 weeks late. So I’m very sorry for the delay. Writing when you don’t want to feels like the hardest thing ever, but at the same time I don’t want to leave a fic unfinished. So yeah, but here it is and I hope you liked it!
> 
> On another note I have two cool other fics in my drafts which I will try veryyy hard not to post until they’re completely finished. Uni starts for me next week, I’ll work a lot and life will be super busy overall so I feel like those two fics will be my last two for a while. I do have a really nice idea for christmas thooo!! But tbh this is all just speculation. I might post nothing after this one, might post 20, who knows? Not me. 
> 
> Anyway thanks for reading and commenting, I love you guys <3 I really hope you found some enjoyment in this fic.

**Author's Note:**

> If you happen to follow me on twitter, you know that I've been talking about this fic for months now, so I'm really happy that I finally managed to post the first chapter. I wanted to write the entire thing but as usual I've succumbed to my need for feedback and am posting it even tho I still have roughly 6k words to go. But it's almost finished, and I have a lot of free time on my hands right now, so I should be finished in a few days. (And hopefully comments will motivate me??<3)
> 
> Anyway, subscribe if you want to see how this entire fake dating thing turns out. What I can say is that you'll get lots and lots of Bellarke being absolute goddamn idiots moments, a decent amount of a Clarke, Raven and Emori trio aaaand more Bellarke. The POVs will be switching!
> 
> Leave a comment if you liked what you read, tell me your thoughts, write me on [tumblr](http://www.blake-madi.tumblr.com) or on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Blarkestan09)
> 
> !!!


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